


Secret Daughter

by Laurenmarie1702



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Good versus Evil, Prophecy, Secret Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23553034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurenmarie1702/pseuds/Laurenmarie1702
Summary: Elliana Snape is the secret child of Severus Snape and Lily Evans Potter. A prophecy foretold that Lily Potter would bear two children, both with fates intertwined with that of the Dark Lord. Both children were destined to do great things, but both were not destined to be Good. In an effort to protect his daughter from Voldemort, Snape hid her among Muggles. But now the war is coming and it's time for her to face her destiny; come to Hogwarts, and learn how to fight- for whichever side she ends up on.
Relationships: Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Severus Snape/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Elliana McKean was a beautiful young girl. She had long raven black hair that flowed down to her waist, a pale complexion, and piercing green eyes. Despite her obvious beauty, she was still self-conscious about her nose, which had a slight hook to it that she thought made her look like a cartoon witch. Being such a beautiful young girl, she was incredibly popular and had many friends at school. Elliana was just coming home from one such friend's house when she walked in her front door, not knowing that her life was about to change. 

* * *

When she walked in the front door to her house, both of her parents were standing in the living room. She gave a quick hello as she walked over to the stairs to head up to her bedroom. When neither of her parents responded to her arrival, she looked again and noticed that something was off. She back-tracked and walked into the living room. When she entered the room, both of her parents were standing against the far wall, and they looked uncomfortable. Neither was looking at her, but when she followed their gazes, she realized that they were not alone in the room. Sitting- quite comfortably- on the couch was the strangest man Elliana could remember seeing. This man was wearing deep purple robes covered in intricate golden patterns, a slightly tilted hat with a matching pattern. His outfit was strange on its own, but this man also had long grey hair and a beard that reached almost to his waist. Though both her parents were staring at the odd man, he was looking directly at her. 

As she took another hesitant step into the room, moving to get a better look at this intruder in their home, the strange man rose from his seat, taking off his hat and bowing his head slightly. As he bowed his head, his bright blue eyes never left hers. His imposing height and presence was immediately frightening, but there was a kindness in those eyes that put Ellie at ease. When he spoke, his voice filled the room. She had not realized how unnaturally silent the room had been until the point at which he disrupted it.

"Hello Elliana, I'm Professor Dumbledore." He extended his hand, even though she was still several feet too far away to shake it. 

After staring at him a moment, she quickly glanced over to where her parents were standing. Finally, they looked at her, and her mother almost imperceptibly nodded her head. Taking a deep breath, Elliana crossed the distance between her and Dumbledore. Taking his hand in hers, she gently shook it and gave a quiet "Hello Sir."

After letting go of her hand, the man gestured to the armchair across from him as he returned to his seat on the sofa. She sat down, ignoring her still silent parents. She didn't notice the tear that slowly escaped her mother's eye as she sat. 

"Elliana, I'm here to tell you a story, a story about who you are." He finally acknowledged her parents as he glanced in their direction, seemingly looking for permission to continue speaking. At this point, Elliana looked to them as well and saw that her mother was crying softly.

"Mom, what's going on? Dad?"

Her mother sniffled and broke out into sobs as her father answered, "You're adopted Elliana."

"What? No. How? No.." She stuttered, questioning what she just heard. She looked to Dumbledore who nodded gently.

"Your birth parents had to hide you for your own safety, and these kind Muggles took you in and raised you, but it is time for you to come home." Dumbledore said bluntly.

Ignoring that she didn't know what a 'Muggle' was, Elliana turned angrily towards her parents and demanded, "Is it true? Why wouldn't you tell me? And now you're just going to give me back?! Like a book you borrowed from the library?!"

Wiping away her tears furiously, her mother spoke in a shaky voice. "We couldn't have children of our own, your father and I. When Mr. Dumbledore found us, he told us he had a child for us. We were so happy. When he said their was a catch to the adoption, we barely hesitated, we were so desperate to have a baby." She paused and looked at her daughter fondly, "It was more like we would be your foster parents. We would get to raise you and love you for years, until you were old enough to go back to your father. Back then, eleven years seemed like such a long time.. we meant to tell you so many times, but you truly became OUR child. We didn't want to acknowledge that one day we would have to lose you."

Ellie's anger lessened, and her eyes welled up with tears. She understood the idea of foster parents, but didn't understand how they could just not tell her, how they could lie to her.

Dumbledore, seemingly forgotten in the moment, gently cleared his throat to break the silence between the family. "Ellie, it was by my instruction that you not know who you really are. As I said, they raised you as a precaution, to keep you safe, and keep you ignorant to your heritage. You see, your parents, your birth parents, are wizards." Ellie had no words, she looked questioningly at Dumbledore, silently urging him to elaborate. He continued, "You are a witch. And I'd imagine a quite powerful one at that." He winked. "Our world would not have been safe for you before you learned to control your powers. We decided that it was safest for you to grow up safe and happy..."

"Who is this we?" She interrupted. "Who are you to make this decision that I couldn't be with my family?!"

Briefly surprised by her tone, Dumbledore took a beat before responding. "I have been a friend and a colleague to both of your parents. The decision was made together with you best interests in mind. I wish to tell you more, but I believe that you deserve to hear that story from your father. If you will come with me, he's eager to meet you."

She looked to her parents, who nodded and with a small, tear-streaked smile, her father said, "It's time."


	2. Chapter 2

As she walked upstairs to pack her trunk, Ellie kept going over and over what had just happened in her head. The shock of being adopted had almost completely overshadowed the seeming existence of magic, witches, and wizards. Several minutes into her parents convincing her that she had to go with Professor Dumbledore, it had suddenly hit her the absurdity of what he had said. Her parents were wizards? She asked and he confirmed that he too, in fact, was a wizard, and he proved it to her by causing all of the decorative figures her mother kept on the mantle to stand up and start dancing. 

The image replayed in her head as the reality of her situation sunk in. She was packing her bags to go live with a father she had never met- a father that just to happened to be a wizard. And oh yeah, magic was real. She looked around her large room, looked at all the stuffed animals, the trophies from her soccer team, her pictures of her friends on the mirror. She wondered how much of it she should take? Do wizards need hairbrushes? Or do they just cast a spell and their hair is perfect? She tossed the brush into the trunk just in case. As she looked around at what else to pack, everything seemed like it just wasn't important enough. Did these items really mean anything? This whole life that she had built was a lie. She piled up the clothes from her closet and tried her best to stuff them into the trunk. When she had packed everything she thought was essential, she dragged the trunk out of the room. She stopped in the doorway and turned to shut off the light behind her. She looked and saw her favorite stuffed animal sitting on her bed. It was a deer that she had had since she could remember. Quickly she grabbed the animal and shoved it into the bag on her shoulder. It couldn't hurt to bring one comfort item. And with that, she flipped the light switch and started to drag her luggage down the stairs. 

After struggling down a couple steps, suddenly the weight was lifted off her as her bags and trunk floated up into the air and drifted over to the front door where they stacked themselves neatly. Surprised, she looked at Dumbledore, who chuckled and winked a sparkling eye at her. 

"Are you ready?" He asked her. 

She gave each of her parents a half-hearted hug, still angry at their deception, but loving them regardless. She turned wordlessly away and followed Professor Dumbledore out the front door that he held open for her. 

Once outside, he waved his wand and her luggage disappeared. Before she could even ask the question, he explained, "Your luggage will be waiting for us when we arrive at Hogwarts. We will be apparating." 

"What is Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts is the school you will be attending to learn how to use your powers. I am the Headmaster of the school and your father is a professor there as well." He held out his elbow to Elliana. "Now grab on, and hold tight, apparating can be a bit scary the first time."

She grasped his elbow, expecting him to feel frail in his old age, but was surprised to find him quite strong and squeezed tightly as she began to ask, "What is appa-" but before she could finish her question, she felt her entire world squeeze and twist down upon her. It felt like her internal organs were being pulled in every direction, and she couldn't see a thing. She could only feel Dumbledore's strong arm and she squeezed tighter, afraid if she didn't then she would be pulled off into space.

Abruptly, the squeezing sensation stopped. She felt her feet hit the ground, but felt incredibly light after the pressure that she had just felt. She let go of Dumbledore's arm and took a shaky step away before collapsing on the ground. 

"I did warn you the first time can be a doozy." He offered her his hand and picked her up off the ground. 

As she stood, she looked up the hill that they were standing at the base of. Sitting atop the hill was a spectacular castle. A real castle! The castle was made of stone and had gigantic ramparts and towers. One tower in the distance had birds flying around it. The sight was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The sun setting behind the castle gave it an ethereal glow around the edges.

Dumbledore looked down at the small girl next to him, totally enraptured in the sight before her. He smiled, thinking fondly of the first time that he saw Hogwarts, and said "Welcome home Elliana."

Together, they walked through the enormous gate and up the cobblestone path towards the imposing front doors. The whole while, Elliana silently tried to take in the view around her. They walked in through the front doors, turned left and entered a large hall. Inside the hall were four long tables that spanned almost the entirety of the large space, with one shorter table on a raised dais at the head of the room. 

It was at this table that the inhabitants of the room sat. Elliana looked across the room to see about fifteen adults sitting at the table eating dinner. They were all more-or-less dressed in the same fashion as Professor Dumbledore, although mostly a bit more subdued. As they entered, all of these people turned and stared at them. Ellie's immediate reaction was to duck slightly behind Dumbledore so that he would act as a bit of a buffer between herself and these people above her. 

An older woman in rich, green robes addressed Dumbledore. "Good Evening Albus."

Ellie looked up at the woman who had spoken, everything about her screamed stern and serious. The robes she wore were beautiful, but not overly showy in the way that Dumbledore's were. Her hair was tucked into a tight bun, and her small horn-rimmed glasses emphasized her stare that was directed right at Elliana. She turned away from the keen gaze of this woman and scanned the rest of the table. Were her parents sitting there?

"Good Evening Minerva, everyone." Dumbledore smiled widely. He then looked down towards the end of the table and said "Severus, may I have a word?"

At this, the man dressed entirely in black robes rose from his seat at the table. He had long, black hair that hung limply over his face, a pallid complexion, and that same hooked nose that Ellie was always so self-conscious about. He looked at Ellie with his dark eyes and she was immediately frightened and averted her eyes. Was this man her father? He looked so familiar, she saw many of her own features reflected in his face. She looked up again and met those dark eyes, sadness and pain had replaced the hardness she had immediately seen in them.

Wordlessly, he swept down from the table and crossed the hall in what seemed like only a few steps, his black cloak billowing behind him. When he stood in front of Dumbledore, he looked down at the small girl and asked tentatively, "Elliana?"

She looked up and nodded her head, almost afraid to meet his eyes again for fear of breaking out in tears.

"Shall we head up to my office?" Dumbledore offered as Severus Snape stood silently, seeing his daughter for the first time in eleven years. Snape nodded. Dumbledore turned, putting a hand on Elliana's shoulder and lead the pair up to his office.


	3. Chapter 3

The doors opened into a large room with incredibly high ceilings. Elliana, Dumbledore, and Snape stepped into the room. Dumbledore moved to sit in the high-backed chair behind his ornate desk. Ellie slowly walked around the room trying to take in all the details. There were so many books, paintings, and little tchotchkes scattered around the magnificent office. Perhaps most amazing to her was the large, red and golden bird perched next to the desk. Ellie moved towards the creature. She tilted her head as she looked into the bird's eyes and the bird mirrored her. 

"That's Fawkes. He's a Phoenix." Dumbledore let her know as she reached out cautiously to pet the bird. Fawkes bent his head and allowed the girl to stroke his feathers gently.

Severus Snape watched this interaction, still standing in the doorway. He almost could not believe that this was the child he had lost eleven years ago, before he even got to know her. It was undeniable though, that she was his child. He saw many of his own features in the girl- all except her eyes. She had Lily's beautiful green eyes. She was Lily's child for sure. And his.

"Elliana," Dumbledore said, breaking her away from her moment with Fawkes, "I'd like to introduce you to your father, Severus Snape."

She turned to the imposing man in the doorway. He didn't look like a particularly fatherly figure. To be totally honest, he looked pretty scary. Nonetheless, she plucked up the courage and stuck out her hand to shake his. The man was taken aback by her gesture, but after a beat, grasped her hand with both of his. "I'm so sorry" was all that he could choke out.

Ellie could feel his large, cold hands on her own small one, squeezing almost a little too tight. She saw the sadness in his eyes, and Severus Snape did not look like a man who often cried. She pulled her hand from his grasp and took a step back so she didn't have to crane her neck quite so much to meet his gaze.

"Professor Dumbledore says you can tell me my story. Tell me; why did you give me away?" Her voice was strong, but her eyes were wet with tears that threatened to spill over. If he wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to either. 

"Have a seat." His voice was gravelly and harsh, but not commanding. Ellie could tell that he was reluctant to share this story with her. She had the feeling that Professor Dumbledore had something to do with pushing her father to talk about this with her. He confirmed her suspicions when he said "I don't believe that this is a story for children, but Albus believes that you ought to know where you come from." he looked pointedly at Dumbledore as he said it.

Elliana did as she was asked and took a seat in one of the comfortable arm chairs situated in front of the professor's desk. Her father, Snape, began to pace slowly across the room as he began to speak.

"I loved your mother more than anything. But," his voice hitched, "she loved someone else." He looked at Dumbledore, who nodded encouragingly. "Your mother married a man by the name of James Potter, and they had a child together. They had been fighting, and one night, your mother came to me. James had hurt her, and she was seeking comfort. I took care of her and loved her. But, in the morning, she went back to Potter." He practically spat the name. "A few months later, she came to me and told me that she was pregnant, with you." He looked at Ellie sadly. "She didn't want to leave her husband, so she hid her pregnancy, hid you. When you were born, she handed you over to me." Snape looked at his daughter who he felt he had failed so miserably.

By now, Ellie's tears had spilled over and were silently running down her cheeks. "So she didn't want me?" She squeaked. 

"No. She didn't want ME. And keeping you would probably have ended her marriage." In that moment, Severus Snape looked completely dejected and as though he had almost been deflated. Elliana could tell that her father was hurt by her rejection more than he could say. He was hurt, but she was mad. The woman that was supposed to love her most gave her away like she was nothing, she loved her other child more, she loved her husband more. She didn't love Ellie. 

"What's her name?" Elliana asked quietly.

"Her name was Lily Evans." 

"Was?"

"She died. Only days after giving you up. She was murdered." Until this point, Snape had been pacing the room, but now he fell into the chair next to Elliana and put his head into his hands. He could not continue talking.

Ellie had no idea how to comfort this man. She had so many different emotions running through herself at that moment, and so many questions. She looked over to Professor Dumbledore, who had been sitting quietly behind his desk throughout the entire story. 

He spoke softly, "And that's why you had to be hidden Elliana. The man who murdered your mother was a very powerful dark wizard. He killed her and her husband, and attempted to kill their son. He didn't know you existed, and we decided to keep it that way. Your father and I knew he might come for you if he knew, and so we decided to keep your existence a secret until you were old enough to come to Hogwarts. Now that you are here, you can learn to protect yourself." 

"But why would he want to kill me? Why my mother?"

"There was a prophecy about your mother. It said that she would have powerful children. One of these children would have the power to kill him, his name was Voldemort."

"Albus!" Snape snapped suddenly as he said the last word. "That's enough for tonight." He glared at the old man who simply intertwined his fingers and placed them on his desk delicately. 

"Of course, my friend." He looked to Ellie, "Elliana, you must be famished. In all the commotion of our afternoon, you never got a chance to have dinner. Severus, why don't you take her down to the kitchen so she can eat, and then you can show her to your quarters for the evening." He raised an eyebrow at Snape who responded by immediately rising from his seat.

"Right. Come Elliana." He gestured for her to stand, and quickly swept her out of the office with a wave of his cloak.


	4. Chapter 4

Elliana trailed several steps behind her father as he lead her down several staircases until they had reached the basement level of the castle. He rounded the corner and halted in front of a brightly colored painting of fruit. Snape reached up, and to Elliana's surprise, he stroked the pear in the middle of the picture. She stood back and watched at the pear giggled (yes, giggled!) and transformed before her eyes into a green doorknob. Snape grasped the knob and pulled the portrait open to reveal a bustling kitchen. He gestured for Elliana to enter, and as she stepped through the doorway, she let out a small yelp.

The small creatures that had been scuttling around the kitchen all stopped and looked up the sound. She had never seen anything like these creatures in her life. Staring silently and wide-eyed as one approached her, something like a small smile played at her father's lips.

"Master Snape, what can we do for you?" One of the creatures asked in an impossibly squeaky voice. 

"A sandwich and some juice will do." Snape stated simply to the creature, who rushed off to quickly begin assembling the food he requested. The rest of the creatures had returned to their tasks and were moving about the kitchen once more. Snape turned to Elliana who looked at him with wide questioning eyes. "These are house elves. They are magical creatures that many wizarding families employ to take care of their homes."

"Odd." Was all that Elliana could think to say as she watched the little creatures dart around the room, fascinated with her first encounter with magical creatures. The small elf that had first approached them returned, this time holding a tray containing several different sandwiches and a pitcher of juice. Elliana sat on a stool as the elf placed the tray on the table in front of her. She had forgotten to be hungry after the incredibly long day she had had.In fact, she had no sense of what time it even was. It felt like it had been days ago when she left her parent's home and came to Hogwarts, when in reality it had only been a matter of hours. Starved, she grabbed a sandwich and started eating rather quickly, while Snape sat and watched.

When she had finished three entire sandwiches, Elliana finally dared to look up at her father, who had been silent the entire time she ate. "Are you finished?" he asked, amused that such a small girl could have such an appetite.

"Yes sir" she answered shyly.

"Then let's go. We have much to do tomorrow." And with that, he stood and strode quickly back through the door they had entered with Elliana again trailing behind. They followed the corridor back the way they had come, but instead of going back up the stairs, they turned down a dimly lit corridor. 

There were several doors along the corridor, culminating in what seemed to be a dead end as the hall suddenly ended with a blank stone wall. They stopped at the first door and Snape muttered something under his breath which appeared to be a spell to open the door. The room that they entered was dark, with stone walls, an unlit fireplace, and shelves lining the wall covered in jars filled with unknown substances. The room had an dank smell to it, almost that of mildew. Snape lead his daughter quickly through the room, waving his hand dismissively and stating simply, "My office." 

In the far corner of the room there was a second door that Snape opened and quickly entered. Inside was what looked to be a small apartment. Immediately inside was a sparsely furnished living area space with only a loveseat couch and a large high-backed chair. Both the couch and the chair were a rich emerald green that contrasted starkly against their immediate surroundings that were almost all shades of grey. There were no signs of personality or homey-ness to the room. There were no photos, no decorations, no tchotchkes. 

Elliana looked around, taking in the space where it seemed her father lived. She couldn't help but notice the differences of this home to the one that she had grown up in. Her parents' home had been warm and inviting, with brightly colored wall hangings and lots of natural light. Severus Snape's home was cold, impersonal, and unattractive. He showed her to a room directly off of the living area. Inside this room were her trunk and bags that she had packed back when she left her parent's house earlier that day. 

"It isn't much, but you can have this room." He said softly to her. 

She stepped inside the room and looked around. The room featured the same stone walls as the other rooms, and the only furniture inside was a four-post bed and a dresser. The bed, Ellie actually found quite nice. It had emerald green linens, matching the color of the furniture in the living room, and it had sheer green curtains that hung around the bed. It reminded Ellie of the bed of a princess in a fairytale, which made her less uneasy about the mostly empty room.

"Do you need anything?" Snape asked as Elliana walked over to the bed and sat down.

"No sir." She said tentatively.

His faced softened the slightest bit. "You don't have to call me sir." It hurt him that his own daughter seemed afraid of him. "Get some rest, we have a lot to do before term starts next week." And with that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, closing the door gently behind him.

Elliana was alone for the first time since she found out who and what she was. She flopped back onto the bed as hot tears began to streak down her face. There had been so much adrenaline running through her body for the last few hours that she was finally feeling the weight of reality come down on her. She stayed there, allowing herself to feel and allowing herself to cry silently until the tears naturally stopped flowing. When they did, she got up and opened up her trunk. She dug through and found a pair of pajamas that she quickly changed into. In an effort to make the room seem less empty, less sterile, she placed some of her personal items around the room. She put her brush on the dresser, put some clothes into the drawers, and pushed her bags to the corner. When she moved her bags, her stuffed deer fell out of her bag and onto the floor. She grabbed it and brought it to bed where she tucked herself in. After the day she had, she fell quickly to sleep.

* * *

In the morning, she awoke to a soft knock on her door. 

"Yes?" She croaked groggily.

"Time to get up. We're going to Diagon Alley today."


	5. Chapter 5

Elliana quickly got out of bed and brushed her hair. She hesitated when she grabbed clothes though, realizing that none of the wizards that she had met yesterday had been wearing normal clothes. All she had were the clothes that she had brought from her parents house, but these seemed too mundane to wear when it seemed wizards all dressed in robes and cloaks. She hadn't seen a single person besides herself wearing jeans. 

She tentatively opened the door to her bedroom, emerging again into the living area. Snape sat in the emerald green armchair reading a newspaper.

"You're not dressed." He stated plainly, hardly looking up from his paper as she entered the room.

"I don't know what to wear..."

"What do you mean you don't know what to wear? He sounded surprised and mildly irritated. "You're eleven years old aren't you? Have you never dressed yourself?"

"I have. It's just..." He lowered the paper to look at her as she continued, "All of you- you all wear robes, and I just have my normal clothes."

Understanding dawned on Snape as he realized what his daughter's problem was. "What you have will be fine. Plenty of wizarding children wear muggle clothes, especially those who attended muggle primary school."

She sighed lightly, and then remembered to ask "What is a muggle?"

"Someone without magic."

Satisfied with his answer, Elliana returned to her room and got dressed in her normal muggle clothes.

When she returned, her father said that they needed to shop for her school supplies and that they would be doing this in a place called Diagon Alley. He lead her back up through the dungeons and through the main part of the castle. They passed the Great Hall where some of the other professors from the night before were sitting and eating. Instead of joining them, they continued through the front doors of the castle and down the path she had walked with Professor Dumbledore. 

As they approached the gates at the bottom of the hill, Snape said "We aren't able to apparate from within the school grounds, so we must come out here." 

Remembering the first time she apparated and how uncomfortable it was, her stomach turned and knotted itself up. Once outside the gate, Snape offered his daughter his elbow, just as Dumbledore had done. She grabbed tightly, realizing this is the closest she had ever been to this man who was her parent. Before she had too long to think about it, she felt the tug of reality shifting and suddenly they gone.

When their feet hit solid ground again, Snape reached out and steadied Elliana before she was able to fall like she had with Dumbledore.

"Thanks" she said, a little breathless, but better off than the first time that she apparated. She looked around to see where they had landed and she realized they were on a busy street filled with people. None of them even seemed to notice that two people had just appeared out of thin air in front of them. On closer inspection, she saw that many of them dressed similar to the professors at Hogwarts, and decided that they must all be wizards.

"Diagon Alley is essentially a wizarding shopping center where you can buy magical items like wands and potions ingredients. Here is a list of the items you will need for school" Snape said as he pulled a letter out from one of the inner pockets of his black robes.

She looked over the list that he handed to her. "A wand?!" She asked excitedly.

"Shall we?" Snape asked as he gestured to the shop directly to their right, 'Ollivander's'

The pair entered and a little bell over the door rang brightly. Elliana looked around in amazement. There were hundreds-maybe thousands of slim boxes stacked everywhere that she could see. Some were neatly on shelves while some were stacked precariously on top of one another on the shop counter and on various shelves around the crowded room. Among the boxes, she didn't see another person until Snape cleared his throat loudly and a man appeared from the back of the store.

"My apologies, I was just working on a new wand- unicorn hair, 10 and a quarter inches, just a few more adjustments and I'll have it..." The man rambled on as he came to stand behind the counter. He looked up as if realizing that he had costumers. "My my, Severus Snape, I haven't seen you in years. What can I do for you?"

"I need a wand," He hesitated, but then said "for my daughter."

The shopkeeper was taken aback for a moment. He looked from Snape to Elliana and back several times before regaining his composure. "Of course! Let's see..." He turned and began to rummage through the shelves behind him. "Here we are. Holly with unicorn hair, 11 inches, slightly springy." He unboxed the wand and handed it to Elliana. "Go ahead, give it a wave dear."

She moved her wand as she had seen Professor Dumbledore do it the night before, but for her, nothing happened.

"Oh no, that won't do. Let's try another one." He turned around, now rifling through a different stack of wands.

Several wands later, Elliana had yet to get a response from a wand. She started to believe that maybe she wasn't a witch after all. Maybe they had gotten the wrong girl and she would have to go back to her life and forget about this whole world. She was ready to give up when Ollivander returned from the depths of the shop with one final wand.

"Here we go- Cherry with Dragon Heartstring. A particularly powerful wand. 10 and 3/4 inches, moderately pliant."

When Elliana grabbed this wand from the man, she felt it almost come alive in her hand. There was a faint humming that she could feel vibrating through her fingers and up her arm. When she waved this wand, a bright blue light emanated from the end, illuminating the dim shop. 

"That's the one!" Ollivander said happily, clapping his hands together. "Amazing my dear, I suspect you'll do great things with this wand."

Snape paid for the wand as Elliana gently placed it back into the box that Ollivander handed her and wrapped the string he provided tightly around it. She was so relieved that a wand had chosen her and that her doubts had been unfounded.

After leaving Ollivanders, Snape took his daughter to several other shops where they collected her various other school supplies, including her robes and potions supplies. All that was left on the list were her textbooks and an optional pet. Ellie did not want to ask about a pet, so she suggested that they go get her school books.

When they entered the bookstore, it was packed wall-to-wall with people, all watching a man speaking on stage. Elliana thought this man looked rather pompous and overconfident and assumed that he must be an author there for a book signing. She watched as the man pulled a young boy up on stage with him to take pictures. To her surprise, he announced that the young dark-haired boy next to him was none other than Harry Potter- her brother. Or rather, half brother. She watched him squirm uncomfortably under the arm of the overzealous author. Snape scowled up at the spectacle occuring at the front of the store.

"That's harry?" asked Ellie.

"Yes. The famous Harry Potter" he said mockingly. He turned away from the duo and continued collecting Elliana's required books.

Of course he's famous thought Elliana. She mirrored her father's scowl at the boy whom her mother chose over her. As she wandered over to where her father was now standing, she noticed him talking to another man who had long, white-blonde hair tied back into a severe ponytail. Next to the man stood a boy who looked strikingly like the man, but looked to be about Elliana's age. The boy watched Potter up on stage with a sneer on his face. 

Elliana came to stand next to her father, who introduced her to the man- Lucius Malfoy, and his son Draco, who attends Hogwarts already. "This is Elliana. She will be a first year this year." 

"A pleasure to meet you Elliana" Lucius said, extending his hand down to her. "Draco, help Elliana find the rest of her books. Her father and I have matters to discuss."

Draco obediently took Elliana by the hand and led her away from their fathers to go look at books.

"I was not aware that you had a daughter Severus." Lucius said once the children were out of earshot. He looked at Snape, suspicious of this child he had never heard of.

"She was born right before the Dark Lord fell. You remember those times Lucius, we all had to keep a low profile. She lived with her mother once I began work at Hogwarts. But as you know, I prefer to keep my personal affairs private, rather than flaunt my wealth and progeny." He sneered as he made this comment, looking the man up and down.

At this moment, Draco returned with Elliana in tow, having collected the large stack of books by Gilderoy Lockhart that she needed for school. Snape gave a terse goodbye to Lucius Malfoy before paying for Ellie's books and leaving the store. 

Snape took out his wand and pointed it at the stack of books in Ellie's arms, "Reducio" he bellowed, and the books shrank to fit into the small bag she carried with her other school items. "I believe we are done" he said, "Let's head back-"

Elliana looked wistfully at the pet store across the street before plucking up the courage to ask "Can I look at the animals?"

Snape resigned himself to allowing his daughter to get a pet as he allowed her to lead him through the pet store. Though he stipulated that it had to be a practical animal, such as an owl. She found a small grey owl which he paid for begrudgingly, stating that such a small owl could hardly carry a letter, nevermind the newspaper.

They left the menagerie and returned to the street. When he extended his elbow for Elliana to side-apparate, she readily grabbed it, feeling just a little closer to this man, as they twisted and moved towards Hogwarts.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the course of the next week, Severus Snape taught his daughter everything that she would need to know about the wizarding world to pass as someone who was raised within it. He taught her about Hogwarts and its houses, about the Ministry of Magic, and the history surrounding Lord Voldemort and his rise to power.

Perhaps most importantly, he taught her her backstory- the one that she would tell other students and professors in order to hide her true identity as the daughter of Lily Evans and sister of The Boy Who Lived. Her mother was a witch, but she died when she was just a baby- just close enough to the truth to be believable. According to his story, Elliana had lived with distant relatives during the school year as she couldn't come to Hogwarts with her father.

She was ready to start school when September 1st finally arrived. She had practiced some simple spells and potions with her father once she had her wand, but was incredibly eager to learn more.

The only thing that Elliana was nervous about was what house that she would be sorted into. She had learned that her father had been in Slytherin and was currently the Head of Slytherin House. She was afraid that she would disappoint him if she wasn't in Slytherin, and she wanted to desperately for this cold man who was her father to love her and be proud of her. A small part of her wanted this so that he would regret giving her up as a child. A little part of her wanted him to hurt the way she hurt over her abandonment. 

* * *

As the sun set over the lake, Elliana stood at the castle doors, watching her classmates arrive at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore appeared in the doorway startling her. "Are you ready Elliana?"

She turned around and looked into his sparkling eyes. "I'm excited. And nervous. And terrified. What if I'm not in Slytherin?" the words tumbling out of her mouth at the invitation.

"Well then you aren't in Slytherin" he shrugged and chuckled lightly. "Your mother was a Gryffindor you know. And a top-notch one at that. She would be incredibly proud to see you in her house."

Elliana heart ached in her chest. She wanted to love her mother and feel connected to her, but all she felt was resentment. Her mother refused to even acknowledge her existence. Why would she care to make this woman proud? "I want to be in Slytherin." She said, reassuring herself as much as she was him.

"You'll do great things in whichever house you join. Don't worry yourself with labels." He nodded towards the students who were now closing in on the castle, led by Hagrid. "I believe it's time to join your class."

As the group of first-years entered the castle, Professor Dumbledore greeted them warmly. The other students were so shocked at the beauty and newness of the castle that none of them noticed when Elliana slipped into the crowd and disappeared amongst her peers. The group was led around to the side of the Great Hall where they were met by Professor McGonagall. Here she explained the sorting ceremony and the house system to the new students. Elliana only listened half-heartedly as she was busy looking around at all of her fellow students. This was the first time that she was able to spend any time around wizards her own age. The sum of her entire experience in the wizarding world revolved around fully-grown wizards who made her feel like an ignorant child. Now she probably knew more about her world than some of the muggle-born students, which made her proud. She smiled smugly to herself as she noticed the students around her begin to move into the hall.

Upon entering, Elliana saw the Great Hall in all its glory for the first time, filled with the buzzing voices of students, candles floating starkly against the starry ceiling- it was warm and inviting, far from the large, cold, and empty room where she shared meals with the professors over the last week.

The students filed towards the front of the hall where they were lined up in order to be sorted. A hush fell over the crowd as the Sorting Hat sang its song and the sorting began. When Professor McGonagall reached the M's, Elliana's heart sped up, waiting to hear her name called, but before she heard 'McKean, Elliana' the professor had moved on to the N names. She began to panic, thinking she had been forgotten. She looked over to her father, but he was very pointedly not looking at her, but instead stared intently into the crowd of students.

Suddenly she heard "Snape, Elliana." She felt her stomach hit the floor. She had never even thought about her last name. She had obviously realized that she had been raised with the last name of her adoptive parents, but she hadn't thought of changing to match her fathers. She barely had time to process this thought as she walked timidly up to sit on the stool in front of McGonagall. In her anxiety, she hadn't noticed that the silence in the Hall had been broken by the whispers of the other students at the mention of her name.

"Snape as in professor Snape?" 

"He has a kid?"

"No way!"

The whispered stopped at a single pointed raise of an eyebrow from Professor Dumbledore.

The Sorting Hat was plopped on Elliana's head and it sunk down over her eyes and rested on her hooked nose.

"Hmmmm..." Elliana jumped at the voice of the hat. "A Snape eh? You come from a long line of Slytherins. I can see your ambition. You would be great in that house. But! You could also succeed in Gryffindor... Though you aren't as brave as I would expect."

She thought as hard as she could about how she wanted to be a Slytherin, crossing her fingers inside her robes.

The hat made a throat-clearing noise and loudly announced "Slytherin!"

The students at the Slytherin table all stood, cheering and clapping as Elliana made her way down to join. WIth a large smile on her face, she turned back to look up at her father who was clapping and gave her a small nod of approval. She spotted Draco at the table waving her over and she settled into the seat next to him while the hat finished sorting the rest of the first years.

After dinner, the Slytherin Prefects led them down to the dungeons where Snape had shown her the Slytherin common room was hidden. He had not let her see inside, insisting that she would only be allowed if she were sorted into Slytherin. The prefect knocked on the bricks and uttered the password "Salazar." They walked inside as Elliana took in the beautiful green glow of the common room. It was everything that her father's apartment was, with stone walls and beautiful emerald green furniture- but the room was also more alive and welcoming than his cold home.

Draco looked at Elliana, staring in awe at the magnificent common room. "Welcome to Slytherin."


	7. Chapter 7

Most of the Slytherin students quickly dispersed around the room, with some disappearing behind doorways that Elliana assumed led to the dorms. She asked one of the older girls where the first year dorm was and the girl pointed it out to her, asking "Is it true? You're related to Snape?"

Elliana knew this would happen- being the kid at school whose parent works there. "Yeah. He's my father." It still felt weird to say the word aloud, seeing as it had only been true for a little over a week.

She followed where the girl pointed and entered into a small room with five four-poster beds hung with beautiful emerald green and silver linens. She was surprised to see her trunk at the end of one of the beds. She noted that it was only the trunk that contained her school robes and supplies. Everything that she had put away in her father's apartment was missing, apparently still where she left it. She had never discussed with her father if she would be living in the dorms or with him. She assumed that he wanted her to live in the dorms and not with him seeing as her belongings had been delivered here.

The other four Slytherin girls that she would be sharing her room with entered over the course of the next hour. They spent several hours talking and getting to know each other. Elliana found that all of them were either Pureblood or Halfblood wizards, and most had a family legacy of Slytherins. Luckily, she fit in with this group. For the first time since she left her old life, she felt like she had started to belong. Her powers, her family; these were normal to these girls, and revered among other students. 

After hours of talking, she finally drifted off to sleep, happy in her new home and eager to start school in the morning. 

* * *

At breakfast, Snape came round the Slytherin table and handed out schedules to the students. After handing Elliana her schedule, Severus Snape allowed his hand to rest gently on her shoulder for the briefest of moments before continuing to coldly hand out the pieces of parchment. Ellie could have almost missed the small show of affection if she didn't know any better. She thought he was saying that he was proud of her for being in Slytherin. 

She looked at her schedule and her first class was Charms with Professor Flitwick which was a class that she was particularly excited for. The idea of spells to complete all the mundane tasks in her life was the thought that immediately came to mind when she learned she was a witch. Luckily, she knew where Flitwick's classroom was, so she was able to show her new classmates where the room was and seem more knowledgeable than them.

Together they entered the classroom and sat on the left side, noting that there were several Ravenclaw students already sitting on the left side of the room. 

Professor Flitwick entered and moved to stand on a makeshift podium of a stack of books at the head of the room and addressed the students. "Welcome to charms. To begins today, we will be practicing a simple levitation charm. You will notice feathers in front of each of you," He waved his wand and white feathers flew out of a box on the table and landed neatly in front of each student. "You will be levitating these feathers. Now the spell is Wingardium Leviosa. And you will swish and flick your wands like so." He demonstrated with a flourish of his wand, and the students watched, some impressed, still new to the idea of magic. "Now you" and he gestured out to the students stepping off of his podium to circulate throughout the room.

Elliana had already learned this spell in the previous week as she had taken her books to bed every night to practice basic spells. She had found it very easy to replicate many of the spells that appeared in her books, and she wondered off-handedly why a single spell required an entire class period of practice when she was able to replicate most of them in a matter of minutes. She smiled smugly at the students around her waving their wands and shouting at their feathers as she waved her wand, said the spell and watched her feather lightly lift off the table. As her feather continued to float upwards, the other students took notice and stopped what they were doing to look at her.

"Bloody hell," one of the Ravenclaws said, mouth agape, "that girl's done it already!"

Taking the opportunity of having the class' attention, Elliana decided to show off a bit, directing her feather in twisting and twirling patterns through the air. 

"That will be enough Miss Snape." Professor Flitwick stated curtly, suddenly appearing at her side. 

"Did I do something wrong professor?" She asked innocently.

"There's no need to show off Miss Snape. It's very unbecoming."

"I was just practicing the spell Sir." She smiled sweetly and some of the other Slytherin students snickered. "You can't possibly be mad at me for doing the spell right."

Professor Flitwick muttered to himself as he turned away. "Everyone else, back to work!"

Elliana spent the rest of the class lazily repeating the spell, making a point to only move her feather straight up and down while waiting for the other students to figure it out. 

After Charms, the Slytherin students had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. From first impressions, Elliana like Professor McGonagall. She seemed smart and talented and kind, but also strict and more thana little scary. Overall, she respected McGonagall and wanted to make a good impression beyond their brief conversations before the term. When she came in for the lesson, she sat at the front of the room despite there being several HUfflepuff students already situated at the front of the room. 

Elliana knew that Professor McGonagall was an animagus, so she wasn't surprised when the cat on the front desk leapt down and straightened to become the familiar form of their professor. She explained the philosophy of Transfiguration to the class and briefly went over the prescribed syllabus for the class before launching into the lesson. Their task was to turn the matchsticks on their desks into needles.

Elliana, having never practiced this particular spell was eager to try it. She tapped the stick with the tip of her wand and immediately it transformed and became a needle. She beamed immediately, impressed with her own abilities.

Professor McGonagall had been watching her and came over to her table where she now sat holding the needle between her fingers. "Very well done Miss Snape." She smiled warmly at the girl. "Have you attempted that spell before?"

"No ma'am!" She answered excitedly.

"Well then why don't you try the reversing spell." She said as she flipped the page in Ellie's book to display the instructions for reversing the transfiguration. She stood and watched patiently as Elliana read the instructions and attempted the spell. To her surprise, Elliana was able to return the match to its original form after only two tries; the first resulting in a match shape, but still made out of metal, and the second in a full transformation. "Astounding. Five points to Slytherin." She looked around at the other desks with matches in various stages of transformation. One student had even managed to set a small fire on his desk with his. McGonagall looked at Elliana appraisingly and thought for a moment. "Hmmm..." She strode over to the cabinet behind her desk and retrieved a live rat before returning to where Elliana sat. "Would you attempt to turn this rodent into a goblet?" Ellie nodded eagerly. "To do so, you will tap it thrice with your wand and use the incantation 'Fera Verto.' Focus on the goal, and give it a try."

Elliana took a deep breathe, acutely aware that the eyes of all of her classmates were on her. She tapped the rat lightly and recited "Fera Verto" and then watched as the rat became an intricate silver goblet right before her eyes.

Several students gasped.

"Woah..."

Even Elliana was surprised that she was able to do it. This seemed like a much more complicated transfiguration than the matchstick she had originally been assigned.

"Very good Miss Snape..." The professor said offhandedly, consumed in her thoughts about the strange talent of the girl. "That will be all for today" she said speaking now to the whole class. 

The students got up and filed out of the classroom whispering amongst themselves. None of the students talked to Elliana as most were talking about her. She now realized that there was something different about her, it wasn't normal to be able to do these things as a first year. 

Just when she started to feel like she was fitting into this life, she realized she was a freak.


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of Elliana's day passed rather uneventfully, with classes in History of Magic and Herbology in the afternoon. She stayed under the radar in these classes, listening quietly and only participating as much as necessary. There was a fine line between showing off and looking cool and showing off and looking like a total nerd. It helped that she wasn't necessarily as interested in these subjects as she didn't get to actually perform any magic. 

The history of her new world was infinitely more interesting than the history lessons that she had had in her muggle schooling in terms of subject matter. History of Magic might have been more exciting if Professor Binns' voice didn't put her to sleep.

In terms of Herbology, Elliana had always had a 'black thumb of death' when it came to plants. She imagined that magical plants would be much harder to take care of- and she was right. She could already tell that she was going to struggle in that class, which almost felt like a relief. It seemed like most of her other courses would be really easy so struggling once in a while might feel nice.

At dinner that night, while the students were eating dinner, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall sat at the head table discussing Elliana. 

"The girl is quite talented Albus," She said nodding towards Elliana sitting at the Slytherin table talking to some of the other first years, "She performed a second-year transfiguration on her first try today."

"Did she really?" He chuckled, "I'm not entirely surprised. We knew she was going to be something special. She reminds me a lot of Lily."

Minerva smiled sadly. "She does... But what I was meaning to ask you about Albus, was the possibility of placing her in my second year transfiguration class. I think that she will be bored in the first year class and, well, I'm sure some advanced studies wouldn't hurt in her circumstances..."

"An intriguing idea Minerva, but let's wait out the week- see how she performs in her other courses. I have a feeling that transfiguration may not be her only talent."

* * *

The next morning, Elliana had potions class with her father. She was incredibly nervous for this class. What if she was terrible at it? Her father didn't seem to care too much for her, and she felt that she would lose what little favor with him that she had gained by being sorted into Slytherin if she tanked his class. She walked into his classroom with the other Slytherin students. They were more confident walking into the room as Snape was their head of house and the rumor was that he favored his own students above the other houses. All of the Slytherins took the tables at the front of the room, not seeing the professor yet in the class.

When he strode briskly into the room, the whispers stopped immediately and every student turned to stare at Professor Snape. Elliana could see why many of the students at Hogwarts were afraid of him- he had an incredibly intimidating presence. The black robes billowing as he walked only helped to reinforce the imagery of darkness that surrounded the professor. She had never seen him smile in public, and even in the private of his own apartment, she had only seen what she described as the smallest hint of a smile humanly possible. 

As he stalked slowly towards the front of the room, he began to drawl on about the artistry of potions. Ellie was enraptured by his words. His low, gravelly voice seeming to cast a spell all it's own. She was no longer thinking about her nerves, but was listening raptly to the lesson.

When it came time to make their potions, Elliana opened her book to find the instructions and began brewing the Drowsiness Draught. At the end of the hour, she felt confident that she had brewed the potion correctly and was eager for her father to reach her as he moved around the room criticizing the other potions. He reached her potion and stirred it slowly by hovering his wand over it, uncharacteristically not criticizing her work.

"Well done Elliana. 10 points to Slytherin." And he moved to examine the next potion when one of the Gryffindor students shouted out.

"That's not fair! That's favoritism! She's his kid!"

Snape moved swiftly to tower over the student who had spoken out. "Really? You accuse me of favoritism? With a potion that looks like that?" He sneered, gesturing towards his potion that was an ugly puce color rather than the pinkish-purple that it was supposed to be. "It isn't favoritism when it is clearly a superior concoction to the others in the classroom. Just the mere fumes of her potion could render you unconscious, while yours-" he smirked, "may induce severe vomiting." 

The Slytherin students all laughed as the student was decimated by Professor Snape. It was clear that Elliana's potion was the best in the class, and they were amused that the Gryffindor student had been humiliated. 

Snape then instructed to the students to clean up their work stations and dismissed them. "Elliana, please stay back." He said as she was headed out the doors with the other students.

She hung back until all of the other students had left and looked expectantly at her father who had been straightening up around the room. He said, "Impressive work on your potion."

Elliana beamed. "Thank you. I was nervous, but once I started it kind of came naturally."

"Mhm. Now move along. Don't be late for your next class." 

Ellie frowned slightly, but was glad for the small praise that she had received. In comparison to the feedback that the other students had gotten, it was a glowing commendation. "Well, I'll see you later..." She trailed off as she left the potions classroom.


	9. Chapter 9

"Good evening Severus." Professor Dumbledore said as he gestured to the empty seat next to him at the table. It was the end of the second week of the term, and professors and students were gathered in the Great Hall for dinner.

"Hello Albus." Snape nodded as he took the offered seat.

"How is our young Elliana enjoying Hogwarts?" Dumbledore looked out to see her chatting with Draco Malfoy and some other Slytherin students.

"She's adjusted well," He said, not following the professor's gaze, but instead intent on piling food onto his plate, "talented in Potions."

"Well that's precisely what I need to talk to you about Severus." He looked pointedly at Snape who stopped filling his plate in order to focus his attention on Dumbledore. Snape cocked an eyebrow, urging him to continue. "Your daughter is quite talented indeed, but not just in Potions. I've heard from many of her other professors that she has excelled in all of her studies." Snape gave a small 'hmph' of approval as Dumbledore continued, "Some of her professors have mentioned that they would like to promote her. And I think given her circumstances, that this would be a beneficial move- Unconventional yes, but a wise choice."

"Promote her?" asked Snape.

"Some of her professors believe that she would benefit from higher level studies than those offered to first year students. It seems she has already easily mastered many of the skills required of first years Severus. And you know that much of the first year curriculum is theory-based."

"What are you suggesting we do then?" Snape asked.

"Myself and Minerva agree that Elliana would benefit from being moved into second year courses, at least in her practical courses. I've spoken with Filius and Gilderoy as well, and they believe Elliana is ready for second year coursework in their classes. That is, if you agree to allow her." He raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Is she really ready for that Albus? She's just started school."

"Anything that she is missing, I'm sure she can catch up on. That is if you were willing to tutor her Severus. It certainly wouldn't hurt for her to have extra instruction outside of our normal curriculum."

"If she chooses," Snape said slowly, looking at his daughter chatting with her friends, "I will allow it."

"Wonderful." Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Let's have her meet in my office after dinner."

* * *

As she was leaving the Great Hall, Elliana heard her name called. She turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing looking at her, her father standing a few steps behind him. "Miss Snape, would you be kind enough to join me for a chat before you turn in for the evening?"

"Of course Professor." She spoke to Dumbledore, but her eyes were on her father behind him, worried that she was in trouble. She followed the two men up to Dumbledore's office, the whole while thinking about the last conversation that they had shared in that office the night she had come to Hogwarts. 

When they reached the entrance to his office, Dumbledore cheerily said 'Acid Pops' in order to gain access to the staircase that lead inside. Inside, Elliana took the familiar chair in front of the desk while Dumbledore took his seat behind it. Snape sat in the chair next to Elliana, but faced towards Dumbledore rather than his daughter. 

"Elliana my dear," He smiled warmly at the girl, putting her at ease that she wasn't in trouble. She had been worried that she would be lectured for showing off in her classes. "How are you enjoying your classes this term?"

"They're great sir. I'm really enjoying them."

"Are you finding them difficult?"

"No, not really... I mean, Herbology doesn't seem like my strongest subject, but otherwise everything else is going great."

"You aren't finding anything too easy are you?"

"Well, I mean..." She started shyly, looking briefly at her father, "Most of the spells we do in class I can figure on the first or second try, which is cool, but it gets a little boring waiting for the rest of the class. I usually spend the rest of class reading ahead in the text while everyone practices."

"That's an extraordinary talent my dear." He winked. "Some of your professors have come to me worried that you would be bored in their classes. They suggested moving you into more advanced classes if that would be of interest to you?"

"Really?" She asked looking at her father.

"I think it would serve you well to take on more challenging coursework." Snape answered.

"Of course. Definitely. When can I start?" Elliana asked excitedly.

"Well I've spoken to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Lockhart, and your father, and they believe you are ready to start second year coursework as early as Monday if that works for you."

"Yes! That would be awesome Professor."

"Of course, you will still be responsible for mastering all first year coursework, so this will require a bit of an extra investment from you. Your father has offered to tutor you on a regular basis to ensure you keep up with your work. "

Elliana agreed to Professors Dumbledore's terms and assured him that she would put in the work before he sent her to bed, escorted to the dorms by her father. 

As they reached the dormitory entrance, Snape said, "You'll meet me in my office Monday night after dinner for tutoring. Do not be late."

"Of course."

"I will get your revised schedule to you by the end of the weekend. Have a good evening."

"Goodnight-" She trailed off as Snape turned to walk back to his quarters. She hadn't known how to address her father. It hadn't really come up before. In class she addressed him as 'professor' or 'sir' but that didn't seem appropriate outside of class. She also had never referred to him as 'father' or 'dad'. He didn't really feel like her father yet, at least not in the traditional way. She wanted to love him and feel that connection to him, but so far she still wasn't really comfortable around him.

She entered the common room and saw Draco sitting by the fireplace talking with a few other students. "Well guess what Malfoy," She said plopping down on the couch next to him, interrupting the girl who had been talking. When she sat, Draco turned his attention to her. "I'll be joining you second years in classes come Monday." She said with a bragging smile.

"Is that what Dumbledore wanted with you?" He asked incredulously.

"Yepp! Some of the professors thought I would do well to skip ahead."

"But nobody skips ahead?" The girl Elliana had interrupted interjected. 

"Obviously, I do." Elliana said smugly.

"Well congrats Snape. But I hope you know it won't be so easy for you to be top of the class, now you'll have some real competition." Draco winked and laughed.

"Draco Malfoy, are you talking about yourself?" She laughed in mock amazement. 

"Consider it a challenge."

"Well then good luck Draco, you'll need it."


	10. Chapter 10

Monday morning, Elliana walked into the Great Hall with Draco, followed closely by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle who she wasn't really a fan of, but she liked Draco so she put up with them. She had spent the weekend hanging out with Draco and his second year friends as opposed to the other first years since she would be joining them for many of her lessons. They sat at their usual spot for breakfast and were busy eating and talking when their head of house approached where they sat.

"Good morning Professor." Draco smiled charmingly up at Snape. He could be quite the brown nose when he wanted to be, especially when it came to his favorite professor. 

Snape all but ignored him as his sole purpose for approaching them was to hand Elliana her new schedule.

She looked down at it and saw that her first course would be Potions with her father. "I'll see you in class, Professor" she smiled half-heartedly at him. Snape nodded slightly before turning on his heel and returning to his seat at the head table. 

"So let's see what you've got Snape." Draco said, snatching her schedule from her hands before she had a chance to finish looking at it. He pulled his schedule out of his bag for comparison. "Looks like you've got second year potions, transfiguration, charms, and defense against the dark arts. Not bad. But it looks like you're still behind in history of magic and herbology." He snickered.

"Not surprised really. I'm rubbish at herbology" she laughed, "and there really is no way to skip over history without having to do all the reading on my own." 

"Whatever. It's still cool that you're in some second year classes. Are you ready for Potions?" Draco asked while standing and stuffing his schedule back into his bag.

"Yeah. Let's just hope I don't go in there and make a fool of myself in front of everybody."

"If you do, I'll definitely laugh at you." Draco said jokingly nudging her with his shoulder.

"I hope she does." Pansy Parkinson mumbled under her breath. She had been sitting with them at the breakfast table continuing to be ignored by Draco while he talked with his new best friend. She didn't like having the new competition for Draco's attention, and now that she was in classes with them, it would be even worse. 

When they entered the Potions classroom, Elliana followed Draco over to the table in the front of the room where she sat down next to him. She looked around the room to realize that they had class with the Gryffindor students. And then it hit her, the realization that she hadn't thought of in all her excitement. Harry Potter was a second year. She would be having class with her half brother. "Great." She huffed quietly under her breath as she saw him and his two friends enter the classroom and sit near the back.

"What's that?" Draco asked.

"Potter's in this class." She said rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah, but he's rubbish at Potions."

"Still don't want to see him..."

"Well now you can kick his arse in class, and it'll be even more embarrassing because he gets shown up by a first year."

She smiled a little bit, hoping that that would be the case, rather than making a fool of herself. She couldn't imagine what her father would say if Potter topped her in his class.

"Open your books to page 149." Snape snapped as her strode into the room from his adjoining office. 

Elliana heard the rustling of pages as the other students quickly moved to follow his command. She pulled her potions book out of her bag before realizing that she only had the first year potions book. She looked around and saw everyone else patiently waiting to begin the lesson as she timidly raised her hand.

"Yes Miss Snape?"

"Uhm, I haven't got the correct book sir." She felt guilty about not being prepared for class before remembering that she only got her new schedule this morning, and anyways it would be her father who would have to order her new schoolbooks anyways.

Snape flicked his wand and a book whizzed across the room from the front table and landed in front of Ellie. "You may use this book for today. We'll find you another afterwards."

She thanked him quietly while flipping to join the rest of the class on the correct page. It was then that the Gryffindor students had noticed her presence in the class and began whispering among themselves about how she had gotten herself into their class. 

"Obviously favoritism..." She heard a student say. "Of course Snape puts his own kid in higher courses."

"I heard that she's some kind of potions whiz. Must be genetic..."

"Silence." Snape glared at the class, immediately eliciting their silence and attention before beginning his lecture. 

At the end of the lecture, he instructed the class to concoct the potion using the instructions in the text, cautioning them that ingredients had to be added in exactly the correct order else the potion would spoil and they would have to start over. 

As students began moving around the room to collect ingredients and begin their potions, Draco leaned over and asked "Any questions Snape? I can help you know."

She scoffed at his offer. "Thanks, but I think I've got this one." Her confidence was 50% confidence 50% faking it, but she didn't need him to know that. 

When Professor Snape said time was up, everyone put their wands and ingredients on the table to allow Snape to come and inspect them. Elliana was fairly confident that she had completed the potion correctly, but still held her breath as her father approached their table first. 

Using his wand, Snape inspected both her and Draco's potions by stirring and then lifting some from the Cauldron. He nodded his approval before moving on to the next table. When he reached Harry and Ron's table he laughed at their potions as they had obviously spoiled, noting that they were an ugly shade of brown rather than the bright green that they had been aiming for. 

"It seems Mr. Potter continues to have trouble with following simple directions" he sniffed- almost a laugh for him, "I'm beginning to see a trend." And he walked away to continue checking potions.

Harry's face had turned red at the mockery, and it was all Elliana could do to keep herself from laughing. Draco had been right, it was hilarious to beat him, and it made her oddly proud.

"That is all for the day." Snape said from the back of the room as students quickly cleaned out their cauldrons and began filing out of the room. 

Elliana packed her things away slowly, hoping that her father would talk to her once there were fewer students around. It worked as he strode over to her table once most of her classmates had gone.

"Well done today. I'm impressed." He gave her a half smile.

Elliana's heart beat frantically in her chest, she was so excited to have impressed him. "Thank you. But as you said, it was simple instructions." She shrugged, brushing off the compliment, feigning humility in an attempt to disguise how excited his praise made her.

"I will see you tonight after dinner in my office." His eyes met hers, and he allowed his hand to rest on her shoulder for the briefest moment before turning away from her.

"Ready for Charms Ellie?" Draco asked, breaking her out of her own head.

"Yeah!" She replied a little too enthusiastically, still riding the internal high of her father's praise. She bit her lip to stifle the giggle that escaped her mouth as she followed Draco out of the classroom.

The rest of her classes went well that day, as Ellie continued to exceed expectations, even in her more difficult classes. By the time dinner came, she was in a great mood. Throughout dinner though, her high from the day started to fade as the nerves about her lesson with her father crept into her mind. Finally, she pushed away her half full plate and excused herself from the table when she saw her father get up and leave the staff table.

"So, what is it? Are you in trouble?" Draco asked, noticing the look on her face, and the fact that she had been pushing her food around her plate for the last twenty minutes.

"No. I just have to do makeup lessons with my father; to make sure that I'm not missing out on the stuff that I would be learning in my normal classes."

"Private tutoring, how fancy." Pansy Parkinson mocked.

Elliana chose to ignore her as usual. "I'll see you later in the common room, this shouldn't take more than an hour." She waved to her friends as she walked off down to the dungeons.


	11. Chapter 11

Elliana walked into her father's office and looked around. Noticing that he wasn't in the office, she walked over to the door that led to his chambers and let herself in. Severus Snape was sitting in his high-backed armchair reading the Daily Prophet. She cleared her throat quietly to get his attention.

"You're ready?" He questioned, without looking up from his paper.

"Are we going to do schoolwork?"

"That; and Professor Dumbledore wishes for me to teach you Occlumency."

"What's Occlumency?"

"Occlumency is the art of closing off one's mind, the ability to protect your thoughts from intrusion."

"Why would I need to learn Occlumency? Aren't charms and transfiguration more important?"

"You know things that others don't need to know. If we are to keep you safe, your mind can't be an open book for anyone who cares to look into it. Occlumency will teach you to discipline your mind."

"What do you mean? Protect me from what?" Elliana was taken aback by the harshness in his voice. 

"None of your concern right now. As I said, your mind is an open book, and I don't need every single person to know our secrets." The look he gave Elliana at this moment let her know that this discussion was over. She would have to wait to find out what it seemed he and Professor Dumbledore were keeping from her. "Now, let's begin. Take a seat." He said as he stood and gestured for Elliana to take his seat in the armchair. "Clear your mind. I'm going to attempt to look into it. Your goal is to push me out once I'm in. Once you can do that, we'll work on keeping me out to start with." 

Elliana nodded her head in response and closed her eyes. She couldn't quite clear her head, so instead she focused her mind on a single image. She visualized her father's face, hoping when he entered her mind, all he would see was his own face. "Ready." She said, once she had solidified the image as the only thing on her mind.

"Legilimens." She heard Snape say, and she immediately felt pressure emanating from her temples and moving inwards. The sensation was unexpected and caught her off guard. She lost her focus as her father began to sift through her memories. Her mind had already been on him, and suddenly the images in her head shifted to earlier that day in Potions class. She felt the same nerves that she had felt during the lesson. Then the scene shifted and she was standing in Dumbledore's office the night she met her father, she felt the fear and the apprehension of that night, felt the hurt of the realization that her father did not seem to be a loving man. The scene shifted again as Snape dug further into her memories. Suddenly she saw her father- her adoptive father. It was one of the last memories that she had with him. The pair was having a picnic in the park as they did many times. They were laughing and walking next to the lake when he scooped up Elliana and swung her around in a hug as she smiled and laughed. 

"STOP!" Elliana shouted, tears running freely down her face. "Please." She sobbed defeatedly.

Snape took a step back and fell onto the couch across from his daughter. He replayed the images he had seen in Elliana's memories. She feared him. And she loved the stupid Muggle who had raised her. He looked up at the girl in front of him to see her sobbing quietly. She had brought her knees up to her chest, curling herself into a protective little ball. His heart panged seeing how he hurt her, fearing that she would never feel for him the way she felt for her adoptive parents. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but closed it again without saying a word. 

After a few minutes of sitting, with only Elliana's hiccuping sobs occasionally breaking the silence, Snape stood up and moved to stand in front of his daughter. He held out his hand to her and she reached out her small pale hand and placed it in his. He gently pulled her to her feet without saying a word and led her to her bedroom. 

Most of Elliana's belongings had been moved to the dormitory once school started, but some things still remained in the small room, including the worn stuffed deer sitting on the pillow. Snape had not been in the room since Elliana had moved out, and this was the first time he saw the small stuffed animal. He felt his heart skip a beat as he realized that it was the one toy that he had given her before he had had to give her away. He lifted the toy and pulled the covers back, guiding Elliana into bed and tucking the covers over her. He gently placed the doe back into bed next to her as Elliana looked up at him with her bright green eyes, still glistening with tears. He backed away from the bed and turned to walk out of the room. Right before closing the door, he stopped and whispered quietly, trying to keep his voice from wavering, "I'm sorry."

* * *

The next morning, Elliana woke up still dressed in her school robes from the night before. She hadn't moved once her father had tucked her in and fell asleep. She left her room to find that her father was nowhere to be found. She looked at the clock on the mantle and saw that breakfast was almost over and assumed that that is where he would be. She quickly straightened her hair and clothing in the bathroom mirror before heading out of the apartment and up towards the Great Hall. She hoped she could at least grab a piece of toast before having to go to class.

Ellie was walking through the corridor when suddenly chills ran down her spine. She saw Filch's cat Mrs. Norris strung up by her tail from a torch. She cautiously approached it and saw that it was dead. She gasped and turned to look for someone around in the empty corridor. When she turned though, she did not see another person, but noticed a large message written on the wall in what looked like blood. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.' She panicked and started running towards the Great Hall. She turned the corner and ran straight into Professor Flitwick, almost knocking the short man over.

"Miss Snape! Be careful. No running in the corridors." He admonished her sternly.

"Professor- I- there's..." She stuttered, out of breath and shaking.

"What is it Elliana?" His demeanor shifted quickly from annoyance to concern.

"Mrs. Norris, she's dead. There's a message. Please come quick." She blurted out quickly. She turned and led the professor back to the corridor where the message stood starkly painted on the wall, but now the corridor was no longer empty. Harry Potter stood in front of the wall staring blankly. When Elliana came around the corner with Flitwick, he turned towards them looking guilty.

"Professor Flitwick, it wasn't me- I swear! I found her it like this." Harry said, trying to explain his presence. 

Flitwick turned and read the wall. He gasped once he read the words. He quickly whispered something while waving his wand. A bright light burst from his wand and took the form of a raven that flew away down the corridor. He then turned towards Harry and Elliana who had stood motionless watching the professor react. 

"Step away from there Potter. The both of you stand over here." He gestured to the wall opposite the gruesome message. The two students moved quickly to stand where he pointed. Flitwick walked over to Mrs. Norris and levitated her down to him using his wand. After examining her for a moment he said, "She's not dead, only petrified."

At that moment, Dumbledore strode quickly around the corner with Professors McGonagall and Snape following closely behind. "What has happened Filius?" Dumbledore asked.

"Look for yourself." Flitwick said pointing to the bloody message on the wall.

The three professors looked at the wall and read it before looking concerned at each other. Snape looked down and saw Elliana standing silently trembling by the opposite wall.

"Elliana what are you doing here?" He asked, immediately worried about her. He quickly strode over and pulled her away from Harry, grabbing her by the shoulders and kneeling to look into her eyes. "What happened? Are you alright?" 

He was holding onto her shoulders so tightly that Elliana winced . "I was coming up to breakfast and I found this." She said as the other professors looked to her for an explanation. "I saw Mrs. Norris hanging by her tail and then I saw the message. I ran to go find someone and ran into Professor Flitwick and brought him here."

"And what about you Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I had just found it when Elliana and Professor Flitwick came back. I was-" He paused, stopping himself mid-sentence, "I was heading to the bathroom before class."

Snape eyed him suspiciously and released Elliana from his grasp, turning towards Dumbledore. "What should we do?"

"We cancel classes for the day while we look into this. I'll have students return to their dormitories. Heads will meet the students there and explain that they are to remain in their common rooms and dorms for the day while we investigate." Dumbledore looked at each of the professors, silently spurring them into action to go collect their students. "I'll make the announcement now, as students should be beginning to head towards their classes. Filius, please make sure that no other students come down this corridor." Dumbledore drew his wand and pointed it to his throat. "Sonorus." And then he spoke in an amplified voice that seemed to emanate from the corridor walls, obviously meant to be heard throughout the castle, "All classes have been cancelled for today. Students are required to return to their respective houses and await further information. Students found outside of their dormitories will be punished. Note that the first floor corridor leading to the dungeons is currently off limits." He removed his wand from his throat and again spoke, but this time at a normal volume. "Harry, Elliana, go to your common rooms as well. Harry, follow Professor McGonagall, and Elliana stay with your father. You shouldn't be wandering the corridors alone." 

As he turned to walk away, Harry spoke up. "But Professor, what is the Chamber of Secrets?"

Dumbledore turned and gave both Harry and Elliana a serious look, "It's said to be the home of a monster." And he turned and walked away, leaving the two with many questions and no answers.


	12. Chapter 12

Snape quickly ushered Elliana down to the Slytherin common room where he told her to wait with the other students while he met with the other professors. She went and sat by the fire, noticing that she was still shaking from her discovery. There was no one else in the common room yet as the Slytherin students had to take the long way down to the dungeons in order to avoid the closed corridor. 

When students started to file in, they were all talking and trying to figure out why classes had been cancelled so suddenly. Draco spotted Elliana sitting by the fire and rushed over to join her.

"Ellie! What's going on? You didn't come back last night and then you weren't at breakfast. I was worried. Are you okay? Do you know why classes were cancelled?" Draco asked.

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry. I stayed with my father last night after our lesson, and then I overslept..." She trailed off and was saved from having to explain what happened when her father blew into the common room and all eyes turned to him.

Students quickly gathered in front of Professor Snape eager to hear what had happened. "This morning during breakfast, a student discovered a threatening message made towards the school. Professors are currently searching the school to ensure that there is no threat to your safety, but it seems so far that nothing has turned up." Snape looked around the room, carefully avoiding making eye contact with his daughter. "You are to stay inside the dorms until instructed otherwise while a sweep of the castle and grounds is completed."

A fifth year boy raised his hand and began speaking, not waiting to be called upon. "Professor, what was the threat?"

"That is none of your business Mr. Flint." Snape snapped at him before turning and stalking out of the room.

When the wall sealed behind him, the room immediately erupted into buzzing conversation as students speculated. Everyone was talking around Elliana, most not noticing when she didn't contribute to the conversation. Draco noticed and nodded over towards a quiet corner of the common room once some of the crowd had dissipated a bit. He stood and Elliana followed him over.

"Alright Snape, give it up. What do you know?" He asked knowingly as she took a seat next to him.

She looked cautiously around the room before answering him quietly. "I was the one who found the message." Draco's eyes momentarily went wide as he frantically motioned for her to continue. "I was on my way up to breakfast and I found Mrs. Norris hanging petrified in the corridor, and there was a message written on the wall- in what looked like blood."

"What did it say?" Draco whispered urgently.

"'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.' But I have no idea what it means. The professors seemed pretty freaked about it though."

"Chamber of Secrets... sounds interesting."

"Yeah, as long as you're not an 'enemy of the heir.' Dumbledore said it's a myth, but the story is that some kind of monster lives in the chamber." 

"I'll see what I can find out, but in the meantime, you probably shouldn't be wandering the halls by yourself. You don't want to get eaten by the big bad chamber monster." They both laughed. Elliana felt much better after talking with Draco. He didn't seem scared and neither did the room full of students that she was surrounded by. She noticed that at some point during their conversation she had stopped shaking and had relaxed back into her chair.

They spent the rest of the day in the common room catching up on homework. Draco was going through some first year charms with Ellie when house several house elves came in and set up lunch for the students. 

By dinner, Dumbledore had given the students the all-clear to leave the dorms as long as students stayed in no less than pairs. During dinner, Snape approached the Slytherin table and stopped behind Elliana and her friends. She turned to see him looking directly at her. "Elliana. come with me?"

"Where?"

"Your lesson." Snape said flatly.

"But classes were cancelled today."

"Not for you."

"Fine. I'll meet you in your office." Elliana said, returning to her dinner.

"No. You'll come with me now."

She looked back up, taken aback and slightly frightened by the tone of his voice. She knew not to argue with him so she got up, grabbing her bag and followed her father out of the hall, giving a small wave to her friends as she left.

"You know you don't have to be so mean." Elliana said from behind her father as she followed him down the empty corridor.

"Excuse me?" He asked freezing and turning to stare down at her. "In case you don't remember, students aren't allowed to be walking the corridors alone at the moment. And you seem to also have forgotten that just this morning you found a threatening message and a petrified cat in the hallway. So no, I was not going to allow you to wander down to my office alone in the middle of the night."

She winced at his harsh admonishment but realized his actions were probably rational. "So does that mean the Chamber of Secrets is real?"

"It means I am not taking chances with your life." And he turned and quickened his pace until they reached his office. 

Once inside, Elliana asked, "Are we going to work on occlumency again?" She hoped the answer was no after how horribly it had gone the night before. 

"No. We'll work on regular coursework tonight."

Elliana let out a sigh of relief. She eagerly grabbed her charms book out of her bag and set it on the table. "I practiced some spells today with Draco. I could show you."

"Not charms tonight. Let's work on defense against the darks arts."

* * *

A few weeks passed uneventfully. Elliana attended her classes during the day, and at night she would return to her father's study to practice. She excelled in most of her reviews, but continued to struggle with occlumency as she panicked every time they practiced. 

Word had spread around the school about the Chamber of Secrets but when nothing more came of the threats, the gossip slowly subsided. That was, until someone stumbled upon Nearly Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchley petrified in a corridor.


	13. Chapter 13

The news spread around the school quickly, and by curfew everyone was talking about the Chamber of Secrets. At dinner Dumbledore had announced that students needed to be escorted to classes and dorms by a professor at all time. Severus Snape was leading the Slytherin students through the dungeons and down to their dormitory. 

"So who do you think is the heir of Slytherin?" Draco asked the students walking around him.

"Isn't it obvious it's Snape?" Replied Crabbe, looking pointedly at Elliana.

"That's what everyone else is saying." Goyle pitched in.

Elliana glared at the pair. "Shut up you blithering idiots. I'm not the heir of Slytherin. Whoever it is is hurting people. I'm not doing this!" Her voice raised in pitch and cracked as she yelled at the boys. Other students turned to look at her before turning away at a death glare from Professor Snape.

"I know it's not you, but I see where they're coming from." Draco said trying to placate her.

Elliana glared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're basically the poster child for Slytherin princess." He chuckled. "I mean, you're in Slytherin, your father is the head of Slytherin, AND you're super powerful. It also doesn't help that these things started happening right when you came to Hogwarts."

They had reached the wall to enter the common room. Snape stood at the entrance as students filed past him and into the room. Elliana was the last one to enter the passage, but as she went to step in, her father struck out his arm, blocking her way. She looked up at him questioningly.

"Pack your things. You're staying with me." He commanded.

"What? No. Why?" Elliana complained, catching herself before pouting and stomping her foot like a petulant child.

"Someone or something is petrifying students. It's not safe."

"Everyone else is fine in the dorms. Why can't I stay?"

"Because you're lucky I'm even allowing you to stay at Hogwarts!" His temper began to flare up at the thought of his daughter in danger. 

"What?" She asked, surprised by his answer.

"I lost you for ten years to keep you safe. I'm not letting you get killed right when I get you back."

Elliana's eyes welled up with tears at the honesty in his words. She nodded as he allowed her to enter the common room. She breezed past her friends without saying a word and went right into the girls dorm. She quickly shoved her clothes into her trunk before slamming it shut. She levitated the trunk just as Dumbledore had done when she packed it back at her adoptive parents' house. Again she walked quickly through the common room, not making eye contact with anyone. 

When she exited the passageway into the corridor, her father was standing waiting for her. Together they walked in silence back to his chambers. Inside, Elliana let her trunk float into her room and land with a loud thunk. She sat on the bed and used her wand to unpack her trunk. When Snape walked in, Elliana's clothes were floating lazily around the room before folding themselves neatly and tucking into her chest of drawers. Snape watched for a moment, and as the last shirt fell into place he walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. 

"You know I gave this to you?" He said as he picked up the worn stuffed deer from Elliana's pillow.

"You did?"

"The day your mother died, the day I gave you to those muggles-" He said the word as though it tasted badly in his mouth, "It was to protect you. I cast several protective charms on it to take care of you when I couldn't."

Elliana thought back and remembered carrying that deer everywhere with her when she was younger. A memory surfaced and replayed in her mind, she had forgotten about the day she almost died. She was five or six years old and she was running in her front yard playing with her friend. Her parents were sitting on the porch with the neighbors. She and her friend were playing tag and Elliana was carrying her deer. She was laughing and running from her friend when they started to get closer to the street. Her parents weren't watching closely as she darted out into the road and right in front of a car. The car slammed its breaks but it was far too close to stop before hitting her. But somehow, as if by magic, the car came to a halt, only inches from her.

"Can I show you something?" She asked her father. When he nodded, she said "Look in my mind. You saved my life." She let her guard down as her father peered into her mind. She watched as the memory replayed for him before she felt his presence leave her mind. 

When she looked up at her father she saw his eyes were moist. He quickly cleared his throat before turning away to hide his emotion. "You should be getting to bed. There's class in the morning, and you will not be excused from being late to Potions." When he reached the door, he turned to see Elliana tucking herself under the sheets. He let slip the smallest smile as he saw her hug the old stuffed animal close to her chest as she closed her eyes.

* * *

The next evening, Professor Lockhart had scheduled the first meeting of his very own Duelling Club. Everyone thought it would be cancelled due to the curfew, but somehow Lockhart had convinced Dumbledore to allow it. 

After dinner, many of the students milled about in the Great Hall waiting for it to start. Lockhart announced his arrival as he strode in by magically moving the tables towards the edge of the room. Students had to jump out of the way to avoid being plowed over as the room redecorated. Lockhart hopped up onto the long table that he had left in the middle of the room. He flourished his baby blue robes and flashed his annoyingly perky smile, making sure he had everyone's attention before he addressed the crowd of students.

"Good Evening ladies and gentlemen." He gave a wide smile. The man was always trying to put on a show. Elliana thought he reminded her more of a muggle magician than an actual wizard. "Welcome to Duelling Club. Here I will teach you the difficult and prestigious art of duelling." He was pacing slowly towards the end of the table as he spoke. When he reached the end, he spun on his heel, letting his robes billow out around him. "Professor Snape has kindly agreed to assist me tonight with a little demonstration." He held out his hand, gesturing towards Snape as he stepped up to join Lockhart standing on the table. The two men met in the center of the table. Snape pulled up his sleeves and drew his wand as Lockhart narrated. "So to begin a duel, one must acknowledge their partner by bowing to them before you begin." Lockhart bowed deeply, continuing his showmanship while Snape gave a curt, shallow bow. They turned and stalked to opposite ends of the table before turning to face each other. "Draw your wands, and begin in 3...2..." And the second he said 1, Snape flicked his wand and Lockhart was knocked back with his wand flying out into the crowd. Everyone gasped in surprise. The Slytherin students laughed while several Ravenclaw girls scrambled to catch and return Lockhart's wand. "Now, that was a perfect example of what can happen when you aren't focused." Lockhart laughed as he righted himself and took his wand back. "Thank you Professor for helping me demonstrate that. Very good." He chuckled. "Now let's give this one more go. 3...2...1!" But before Lockhart even spoke, Snape had blasted him with with a curse that left him lying on the floor frozen in place." The Slytherin students cheered and laughed as Snape lifted the spell allowing Lockhart to move again. 

"Haha. Right. Well done Professor Snape, but don't you think it's time to allow some of our students to give it a try?" He looked down and smiled when he saw his favorite student. "Harry Potter! Why don't you come up and give it a go!"

Harry looked at his friends quickly before being grabbed by the arm and yanked onto the makeshift stage by Professor Lockhart. 

Elliana snorted and rolled her eyes. "Of course. That man just loves Harry Freakin Potter."

"Elliana." Professor Snape bellowed, beckoning towards her and inviting her onto the table. As she stepped forward hesitantly, he held out his hand to help her onto the table. He pulled her close for a moment and whispered in her ear, "Now's your chance to show up... How did you put it? 'Harry Freakin Potter.' Don't dissapoint." And he released her hand, backing away. 

"Alright you two, take it easy on each other. Disarming spells only. Now go ahead and bow to your partner."

The two walked towards the center of the table until they were face to face. Harry didn't particularly like Elliana mostly because her father tortured him, but Elliana hated Harry. Both sets of emerald green eyes were locked on each other as they bowed their heads slightly. When they turned and drew their wands, Lockhart counted down as he had in his duel. On one, both Harry and Elliana threw spells, Harry's green and Elliana's red. The lights collided and exploded in midair. Harry was momentarily surprised by the explosion and Elliana took the opportunity to disarm him. Everyone was shocked, including Harry.

"Great work. Very well done Miss Snape." Lockhart said as he began to step back onto the stage. But he stepped back down quickly as Elliana threw another spell. Suddenly a snake had exploded from the end of her wand and it was making its way slowly towards a wandless Harry. Students scrambled to get away from the snake while the Slytherin students laughed.

Harry then began to make hissing sounds at the snake, seemingly forcing the snake away from him and into the audience. The snake had levelled its face with that of another student when Professor Snape waved his wand causing the snake to burn up and disappear. 

The Great Hall was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Elliana laughed mockingly, breaking the silence. "And everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin."


	14. Chapter 14

"Well that didn't last long." Draco said as he plopped down on the seat next to Elliana at the breakfast table. 

"What didn't?" She asked.

"Duelling Club. From what I hear, it's already cancelled. Something about some crazy first year setting a snake on a kid." Elliana laughed and punched Draco lightly on the shoulder. "So what are you doing for the holiday snake girl?" He asked smiling.

"Um.. I don't know yet. I'll have to ask my father, but I assume I'm just staying here with him."

"Don't you have family that you used to live with? You're not going to visit them?"

Elliana's heart panged. She knew Draco was talking about her supposed wizarding relatives who raised her, but she thought back to her adoptive parents. Was she allowed to visit them? She thought about asking her father to spend the Christmas holiday with them. She didn't want to hurt him, seeing as this was her first holiday with him, but then again he didn't seem like one to celebrate. 

"Hey Snape? You still there?" Draco asked, waving his hand in front of her face. She had been lost in her thoughts and forgot to answer his question.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I don't actually like them much. I only lived with them because I couldn't stay at Hogwarts with my father."

"If you wanted, you could come home with me. Get away from school?"

"Thanks Draco. I'll ask my father." She said it, but knew she probably wouldn't have the courage to ask. She stood up and grabbed her bag, turning to leave. 

"Hey, where you going?" Draco asked looking around.

"Just the bathroom. I'm fine." She answered, pushing him back down as he had stood to join her.

"You're not supposed to go off alone."

"It's the bathroom. I'll live." She rolled her eyes at him as she walked out the Great Hall. She rounded the corner to head to the girls bathroom and saw a group of older Gryffindor girls enter the lavatory. Elliana was not looking to get into it with them so she decided to use the other first floor bathroom. She walked down the corridor to the bathroom that no one really used. There was this really annoying ghost that hung out there, so most girls avoided it. As she approached, she heard the ghost, Moaning Myrtle laughing to herself. She braced herself and opened the door, thinking she would much rather deal with Myrtle than those Gryffindor girls. She took one step into the bathroom and found herself with three wands pointed at her chest. "What the hell."

"What are you doing in here Snape?" Ron Weasley spat at her.

"Might I remind YOU that this is a girls lavatory. I'm here to use the loo. What are you all doing in here?" Elliana said, not phased by the wands still trained on her. 

"Just get out!" Ron stuttered.

"No way. And put your wands down. You aren't going to hex me or you would have already." Ellie said walking right up to them to see what they were doing. Harry and Hermione slowly lowered their wands as she walked up to them. Ron lowered his slightly but kept it pointed at Elliana. "Are you brewing Polyjuice Potion?" She asked as she looked past them into their cauldron.

"How did you?" Harry asked confused.

"Honestly. I'm in your Potions class. You haven't noticed I'm good at it? I could tell by the ingredients you've got lying around, and by the looks of it, it's done." She looked away from the potion and around at the trio. "So what are you using it for? Obviously not schoolwork or you wouldn't be hiding out in a bathroom..." 

"Just get out Snape." Said Harry. 

"No. This is actually perfect." Hermione said, quickly pointing her wand back at Elliana. "Confundo."

Elliana's entire body shook before she collapsed on the ground. 

"Bloody hell Hermione! What did you do?" Ron sputtered. 

"Oh relax, it's a little Confundus Charm. She'll hopefully wake up in a couple minutes and forget she saw us here." Hermione said while quickly spooning their potion into vials and cleaning up the mess of ingredients. "We need to be out of here when she gets up."

"'Hopefully'? That doesn't sound very convincing." Harry said, watching Hermione clean. 

"Snape is gonna kill us." Ron said, all the color draining from his face.

"Shut up you two. She's going to be fine and he isn't going to find out. Harry, grab a hair off of her will you, and let's get out of here." She tucked the vials of potion into her bag and hefted it on her shoulder as she walked briskly out of the bathroom. Harry cautiously plucked a hair off Elliana's head, causing her to stir. He gasped and ran out the door behind Ron and Hermione.

Elliana's eyes opened slowly as she realized that she was lying on the bathroom floor. She stood shakily, her head swimming. Little specks floated in front of her eyes as she stumbled back to lean against the sink. She couldn't remember what had happened. She didn't even remember coming to the bathroom, nevermind how she ended up on the floor. When she had regained control of her limbs, she took a deep breath and headed to find her father.

She got to the Great Hall to find it sparsely populated with students having study hall. She looked up at the clock in the entryway to see that it was a few minutes past 9. She tried to think of the last thing she remembered, and realized it was waking up this morning, and everything after that was gone up until waking in the bathroom. She realized that she should be in Potions, so she hurried down the steps to the dungeons. 

When she entered her father's classroom, she was greeted by his cold words. "Miss Snape. You're late. And unaccompanied in the halls. That will be detention for you, and five points from Slytherin. Take your seat." She tried to meet his eyes, to communicate that something was wrong, but he refused to look at her and had resumed pacing around the classroom. Elliana sat alone at a table in the back. She tried to complete the day's potion, but couldn't make herself focus long enough. Her potion ended up a solid mass in the bottom of her cauldron by the time her father came round to check. When he saw this he finally met her eyes and she saw real concern in them. She shook her head ever so slightly and asked if she could speak with him after class.

Snape hastily dismissed the rest of the class. Draco started towards Elliana before Snape rebuked him, sending him on his way. "What happened?" He said. Elliana could hear the urgency in his voice. 

"I don't know!" Her voice broke as the emotions she had held back for the last hour flooded out. Tears spilled from her eyes. "I can't remember. Something's wrong."

"Sit." He ordered, pushing her down into a chair. He turned and hurried into his office where Elliana heard the clinking of bottles as he rustled around in his office before coming back with a vial in his hands. He handed her the vial and ordered her to drink the bright blue potion. As it went down her throat, Elliana felt it warming her from the inside out and her body almost instantaneously relaxed, her sobs fading to silent tears. Snape placed his hands on both of her shoulders, looked into her eyes and said forcefully, "Legilimens." After a few moments of searching through her memory, he pulled back. "Someone's tampered with your memory." He said it quietly and without emotion, before stepping back from his daughter and slamming his hand down on the table, causing Elliana to flinch. "We're going to Dumbledore."

"What? NO! I'm fine. I just need to lie down..." She could see his temper flaring and it frightened her. She tried to calm him down. "The potion really helped, I feel better. Please can I just go to bed?" She pleaded.

Looking into his daughter's beautiful green eyes, Snape caved. He put his hand on her shoulder and gently guided her back to his quarters. He could see that even the short walk had tired her, so he set her down gently on the couch in the living room, not wanting to make her walk further than she had to. With a wave of his wand, she was propped up on pillows and a large, soft blanket flew out of the cupboard and wrapped itself around her small body. He sighed in relief as he watched Elliana relax into the couch and waited until she fell asleep to quietly sneak back out into his office. Once out of earshot, he conjured a Patronus, whispered a message to Dumbledore cancelling his classes for the day, and sent it on its way. Satisfied that he had alerted Dumbledore, he quickly returned to his daughter's side, worried to leave her alone. He checked to make sure she was still sleeping before settling down into his armchair. 

For the rest of the day Elliana slept, and for the rest of the day, her father sat guard, watching to make sure nothing happened to his daughter.


	15. Chapter 15

Over the next couple days, Elliana was never left alone, but she was okay with that. Between her father and Draco, she was always with another person. Draco didn't know the full story of what had happened to her, but she had told him that she had had a fainting spell randomly, so of course he was worried about her. Her father had encouraged Draco's concern, and seemed happy that Ellie had another person looking after her. 

It was Friday morning, the last day before the Christmas break, and all around Hogwarts, students were buzzing with excitement. The campus was decorated beautifully for the holiday, with the biggest Christmas tree Elliana had ever seen in the Great Hall. Even before class began, Elliana knew that the day's classes wouldn't be very productive. She and Draco walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts class and sat down in their usual seats in the back. 

Much to everyone's dismay, Professor Lockhart had decided to lecture as usual, even though it was one of the last classes before break. He began his lesson on vampires by launching into the story of the vampire that he had encountered on his travels in the previous year. As he blathered on endlessly, Draco turned to Elliana and whispered, "So did you ever ask your father?"

She looked at him confused. "About what?"

"About coming home with me for the holiday?"

"Was I supposed to ask him about that?"

"Yeah. I asked you a few days ago..."

Elliana thought back, but couldn't remember ever having this conversation with her best friend. "I don't-" realization dawned on her, "That must have been the day I.. got sick. I had a monstrous headache and everything that happened that day is kind of fuzzy. Did you really want me to come with you on break?"

"Of course. You're my best mate, and I figured you might want to get away from the castle for a bit. I already talked to my father about it and he said it was alright."

"Well-"

"Ahem." While the two were talking, they hadn't noticed Professor Lockhart come to stand directly in front of their table where he now stood looking down on the pair. Elliana's pale face had gone a dark shade of red, while Draco simply snickered at the professor.

"Sorry sir.." She mumbled. Satisfied, Lockhart resumed his lecture as he returned to the front of the room.

"You're seriously afraid of that blithering idiot?" Draco whispered, smirking at Elliana.

"He gives me bad vibes. Like I get the chills whenever he's around me."

"Yeah, he is a total creep. I get that." Draco continued to talk, but Elliana had turned away from him so that she was facing forward to at least give the appearance that she was listening to the lecture.

At the end of the hour, everyone was dismissed and the students travelled as a large group to the Great Hall, escorted by Lockhart. 

* * *

That evening after dinner, Snape escorted Elliana back to his quarters as usual. On the way down to the dungeons he said to her, "You'll need to pack tonight. You're spending the holiday with the Malfoys."

"I am? Draco only asked me this morning?"

"His father owled me extending an invitation to you."

"Oh." She was trying to gauge his feelings on her spending the holiday with him, as she wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. She had dared to hope that he wanted her to spend their first Christmas together as a family. "You didn't want me to stay here at the Hogwarts?"

"Of course not. There's someone running about petrifying students, and someone tampered with your memories. It's not safe here now."

She understood where he was coming from, but it still hurt her that again this man wasn't the father she envisioned in her head. They had been separated for eleven years. She had hoped he would want to be an actual family. After all, he was all that she had left of her birth family. 

The rest of the evening was spent in relative silence while Elliana packed her trunk for the two weeks she would be away. She was bummed about her father sending her away, but at the same time she was excited to spend the break with the Malfoys. She was eager to see what a normal wizarding family and home were like. 

In the morning, students who were leaving for break gathered in the Great Hall where Elliana met up with Draco. "You ready Snape?"

"Yeah. Haha, your father owled my father about the holiday?"

"I figured you would probably forget to ask. And that there was a better chance he would say yes if my father asked him." He shrugged, smiling at her. 

When they boarded the Hogwarts Express, Elliana was really excited as it was her first time travelling by train. Draco noticed Ellie's palpable excitement. "You've never taken the train to school have you? Of course not."

"No, I just apparated with my father. I've never actually been on a train at all."

They found an empty compartment and entered, with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy coming in behind them. Draco dropped down onto a seat and stretched his legs out so that he took up the entire bench. The others sat normally on the other benches.

"You think any of the mudbloods are gonna come back after the break?" Crabbe questioned the group.

"What do you mean?" Elliana asked.

"I heard that they were so scared of the chamber monster that some kids weren't coming back to Hogwarts." Pansy laughed. 

"My father said that the Chamber was supposedly opened fifty years ago, and a girl died." Draco chimed in. 

"Well that's why my father sent me on break with Draco. Even the professors are getting worried."

"Why would he be worried about you? It's Slytherin's monster. And it's only after mudbloods." Pansy eyed Elliana suspiciously.

"Bite me Parkinson." Elliana snapped back.

"What? I mean, we all know you're not a pureblood. I mean your father is a half blood for Merlin's sake, and who the hell knows who your mother even was..."

At the mention of her mother, Elliana's anger boiled over. She stood, pulling her wand and aiming it at Pansy's chest. Draco laughed, "Leave her Ellie, she's not worth the detention."

"She doesn't get to talk about my mother." Elliana managed through clenched teeth, not lowering her wand. Pansy moved to grab her wand, but before she could reach it Elliana shouted "Expulso!" Pansy was picked up from the seat that she was in and was thrown backwards against the wall behind her with a loud crash.

"Bloody hell Snape!" Goyle's mouth was hanging open as he stood up to go take a look at Pansy's unmoving body.

"Damn. You'd think people would start to learn not to mess with you after Potter..." Draco got up and kicked Pansy's leg, causing her to stir. "She's fine." And he returned to his seat.

A few minutes passed before Pansy slowly got up off the ground and moved gingerly back into her seat. She glared at Elliana, but didn't say a word for the rest of the train ride. As the train pulled into King's Cross Station, Pansy quickly collected her trunk and hurried out of their compartment. The others laughed at her embarrassment as they too stepped off the train. Standing alone towards the back of the platform was Lucius Malfoy, waiting for Draco and Elliana. Elliana remembered the first time that she had met him in Diagon Alley and shivered under his piercing gaze as they approached him. When they reached him, there was no show of affection between father and son, no hug hello, not even a hand shake. At least Elliana wasn't the only one with a cold father.


	16. Chapter 16

Malfoy Manor was an incredible home, the largest single house that Elliana had ever seen. When they apparated onto the front lawn, Elliana was luckily able to catch herself before she fell, glad for this wasn't her first experience apparating. She looked up at the house in front of her and her mouth fell open. As she took in the impressive home, she couldn't believe that this was where Draco lived. She knew his family was wealthy, that certainly wasn't a secret, as he bragged about his father's ministry position often, but she had no idea they were this wealthy. This place was a mansion, complete with albino peacocks strutting around the grounds.

"Jeez Draco, you didn't tell me you lived in a mansion." Elliana whispered to him, careful not to allow his father to overhear. She was slightly afraid of Lucius Malfoy, as he seemed like a very stern man. If it was even possible, he seemed even colder than her father.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. Old wizarding family, old money." He waved it off, but with a small smirk because he enjoyed the awed look on her face.

As Lucius Malfoy approached the 10 foot front door, it swung open slowly to allow him to enter. Draco and Elliana followed quietly inside. To Elliana's surprise, the inside of the house was completely devoid of any Christmas decorations. When they had left Hogwarts, the entire castle had been completely decked out in holiday decorations. She had just assumed that wizards went all out for the holiday. Apparently not all wizards.

Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy met them in the foyer, striding forward and wrapping Draco in a hug. "Draco, it's lovely to see you." She straightened and looked at Elliana. "And you must be the young Miss Snape. You really do look like Severus.." She mused, looking Elliana up and down. She looked at her husband, who seemed to have already lost interest in the children and was flipping through the Daily Prophet that had been sitting on the entryway table. "Why don't you two run along. The house elf will have dinner ready in a few hours and you can come join us then."

"Come on Ellie." Draco said, as he grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her out of the room.

"Your mother seems nice.." She said, still anxious from being around Draco's parents.

"Yeah, she's nice... Hey! wanna play quidditch?" Draco asked, quickly changing the subject.

Elliana's pale face reddened. "I have no idea how to fly..." She said, embarrassed.

"You're kidding! You've never flown before? There's no way!" Draco was shocked, and almost didn't believe her, assuming it was just another thing that his friend was amazing at and would hop on the broom and laugh at him.

"Nope. Never flown. No one ever taught me."

"Well then I'm going to teach you!" Draco grabbed her hand again and dragged her out to the back yard.

"But I have flying lessons next term. There's really no hurry... I'll learn when we get back to school..."

"Oh come on Els! It's fun. You'll love it!" At this point Draco was pulling two polished brooms out from the shed.

Elliana was absolutely terrified of flying. She had watched Draco and the other Slytherins during quidditch practice and she couldn't believe how high they flew from the ground. As someone who was raised a Muggle, and was taught that when you fall off high places you get hurt, she had no desire to get up on a broom. "No way. Why don't we go play chess, or something where I won't break my arm."

"If you break your arm, my mum will fix it up. I've done it a time or two!" He winked and shoved one of the brooms into her hands.

Draco spent the next thirty minutes teaching Elliana how to fly. At the end of that time, she was drifting slowly around the yard, a massive three feet off the ground. She drifted back to where Draco was floating waiting for her and landed, only a little shakily, on her feet.

"You know, that wasn't half bad. I have to admit." Elliana chuckled.

"By the end of break, I'll have you flying around like a pro. You'll be ready to try out for next year's quidditch team!"

"You're out of your mind Malfoy." But Ellie laughed and nudged him as she said it. "I think I've hit my excitement limit for today though. Let's go back inside."

* * *  
Over the rest of the holiday break, she learned that Draco's relationship with his father was very similar to her own, even though Draco had known his father his whole life. This gave her comfort, and made her feel closer to Draco. After seeing this, she worried that her relationship with her father would never progress past his cold exterior and barriers. She had hope though. Where Lucius Malfoy often ignored his son, or criticized him when addressing him, her father seemed like he wanted to like her and wanted to love her. Elliana just felt he didn't know how. She was determined that when they returned to Hogwarts, she would connect with her father. She couldn't bear to have a relationship like Draco's with her only living parent. After all, he had wanted her. He had kept her when her mother abandoned them. He must love her.

Elliana was distracted from her thoughts when the Malfoys' weird little house elf Dobby came into Draco's room to collect their school bags. "Excuse me Master Draco, Miss Snape, but it's time for you to leave. Master Malfoy is waiting." The house elf said in his high, trembling voice.

"Finally." Said Draco, as the house elf snapped his fingers and their school trunks levitated into the air and followed the elf out of the room. "Couldn't wait to get out of here."

They arrived at the train station early and found themselves standing on platform 9 ¾ before the train was scheduled to arrive for boarding. Lucius Malfoy stood stoically looking at the tracks with the two children behind him.

"Hey, can I ask him?" Elliana whispered to Draco.

"Don't bother. He never tells me anything." Draco whispered back. Over the course of the break, they had discussed at length the Chamber of Secrets, and their respective theories on who the heir of Slytherin was.

"Uhm. Excuse me Mr. Malfoy.." Elliana asked hesitantly. Draco's eyes bulged slightly, terrified of getting in trouble for his friend asking the question. She continued anyways, ignoring Draco and looking up at his father. "Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets? About who the heir of Slytherin is?"

Lucius looked down on the children. "The Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin himself," he drawled. "Slytherin didn't want Mudbloods attending his school, as he shouldn't. The purpose of the creature in the chamber was to rid the school of Mudbloods, and it seems like it is doing just that. Just as it did 50 years ago."

"What do you mean 50 years ago?" Draco blurted before he could stop himself.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before. It seems they didn't catch the heir. Maybe this time they will succeed in ridding the school of unclean blood." Lucius glanced at Elliana and made a face.

At that moment, they heard the train nearing the platform. Lucius took the opportunity to end the conversation, walking away when he spotted a Ministry colleague to go speak with. When the train came to a halt, Elliana and Draco stepped onto the train dragging their trunks, neither bothering to say goodbye to Draco's father.

On the train, Draco and Elliana found the rest of their Slytherin friends and situated themselves into a compartment for the ride.

"I think it's Potter." Said Crabbe. "You saw the way he talked to that snake at Deuling Club."

"There's absolutely no way it's Potter." Draco spat the name. "He couldn't possibly be Slytherin's heir. He's not even a Slytherin. And he's a half-blood. His mother was a filthy Mudblood. Hopefully the monster takes him out too while it's at it."

Elliana's blood ran cold. Her mother was a Mudblood? What did that make her? Is that why her father sent her away? Did he think the monster would come after her? She felt slighted that her blood wasn't pure like Draco's and her other friends. She felt a knot in her stomach and kept quiet as the conversation continued and eventually shifted away from the Chamber of Secrets.

When they arrived back at the castle, the heads of houses were waiting in the front entrance to escort students back to their dormitories. Dinner had been served on the train, so students were to go directly to their dorms and remain for the evening. When they reached the Slytherin dormitory, Snape stepped aside and allowed the students to enter the common room.

When Elliana reached where her father was and looked up at him expectantly, hanging back from the rest of the crowd. This was the first time that they had been apart since she had met him. She didn't know if he would hug her or what. He had never hugged her before, but hey, there was a first time for everything. She hadn't heard from him at all over the holiday, save for the small parcel she had received via her owl on Christmas day. The gift had contained a delicate locket with an elegant "E" engraved on the outside. She had been unable to open the locket, but she loved it nonetheless.

When her father didn't say anything, she timidly opened up the conversation. "Thank you for the locket. I love it." She said while grasping the locket that had remained around her neck since the moment she had gotten it.

"It was my mother's. I thought you would enjoy it." His lips twitched ever so slightly upwards as he looked down at his daughter.

Elliana looked down at the small silver pendant that was once her grandmothers. She lightly traced the delicate filigree that surrounded the locked. Smiling, she tucked it back under her shirt. "It's perfect." She chanced a smile up at her father and looked into his cold, black eyes. She hoped she hadn't imagined the flicker of warmth that she saw in them. She looked away, her cheeks reddening at the awkwardness. "Well, I guess I'll see you in Potions tomorrow. Goodnight.."

As she turned to enter the common room, her father cleared his throat. "Actually, for now, you will be staying with me in my quarters."

"What? Why?" Elliana said with the slightest whine.

"Hogwarts is not safe right now. It is not up for discussion. Come now, your things are already in your room." And with that, he turned on his heel and strode towards his office, his black cloak billowing behind him.

Elliana looked back at the common room before reluctantly turning as well and following her father.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Elliana awoke to the sounds of her father moving about in the living room. In looking at the clock on her bedside table, she saw that it was only six thirty in the morning. Breakfast wouldn't even begin to be served until seven. She sat up in her bed and looked around the small bedroom. Besides the bed, there really wasn't much in this room, and it was completely devoid of any decorations. She sighed, thinking about her warm and inviting bed in the Slytherin dorms. She did wish that she could continue to stay there, but she didn't really spend much time with the first year Slytherin girls anyways, since she only had a couple classes with them. She realized that as embarrassing as it was to have to stay with her father rather than the dorms, that this was the opportunity she was looking for to build her relationship with him. And anyways, she heard that some families didn't even let their kids come back to Hogwarts from the break, so she was immensely grateful to even be at Hogwarts.

Elliana saw that her large trunk as well as her other belongings from her dormitory had magically appeared in her room. She took this opportunity to make her room a little more home-y, putting her Slytherin quidditch banner up on the wall and unpacking her school robes into the chest of drawers. The room had felt so empty and sterile with its stone walls and lack of windows, she threw some books around and tossed her used pajamas on the floor just to take up some of the space. After she was dressed in her robes, she looked around, feeling just a little better about the space.

Leaving her bedroom, she found her father sitting in his armchair with a cup of tea and reading the Daily Prophet. "Good morning." She said quietly, uneasy at disturbing the heavy silence of the room.

Snape looked up from his tea, eyeing Elliana up and down to see that she was ready for classes. Satisfied, he gestured towards the loveseat and the empty teacup set on the table before it. "Morning" he said curtly, "There's tea if you'd like."

Elliana took a seat gingerly on the sofa, filling her teacup from the pot. Her father had returned to his reading as she did this. She wanted so badly to have a relationship with this man, she pushed through the awkward silence and asked, "Anything interesting in the Prophet?" Trying anything to start a conversation.

"Just the usual Ministry nonsense. And parents calling for Dumbledore to step down as headmaster." He said nonchalantly.

"Dumbledore, why?"

"A student has been petrified Elliana. Parents are worried about his ability to protect the school. These are dangerous times." Snape looked up from his paper, eyeing his daughter. She looked so small sitting there, so vulnerable. For the first time, he actually understood the parents he once thought radical for wanting to pull their child from Hogwarts. Had he been a normal parent, he might have pulled Elliana from school. She was only still here because he was here and he wanted to remain close to her.

Elliana squirmed in her seat under her father's gaze. She had no response to this as she already had heard about parents panicking on the train back to school. When her father returned to his reading, she asked, "Do you think I could read with you? Just until breakfast starts?"

Snape handed his daughter several pages of the paper that he had already read. He chuckled almost imperceptibly when he saw the eleven year old girl hold up the papers just as he had and begin reading, all while sipping her tea.

And thus began their new morning ritual, sharing the paper and having their morning tea before breakfast. Sometimes talking about the paper, sometimes saying nothing at all. But this routine became comfortable, and became something that they both grew to enjoy and look forward to.

* * *

One Saturday afternoon, Elliana was hanging out in the Slytherin common room with her friends. They had just been escorted back from lunch and had taken up the seats around the fireplace. It was late January, so the corridors in the dungeons were cold, and the students were grateful for the warmth of the fire. Elliana, Draco, and Pansy were already sitting in their usual chairs engaged in conversation when Crabbe and Goyle walked into the common room with the last of the Slytherins who had lagged behind in the Great Hall. This wasn't unusual for them, as everyone knew they enjoyed food more than most, but what was unusual for them was how they looked around at the common room when they entered. They looked nervous and slightly confused. They stood in the entryway staring slack-jawed around the room for a moment before Draco noticed them and called them over.

"There you insatiable idiots are. Did Snape have to peel you out of your seats at the table? Are you ever not hungry?" Draco called across the room mocking them.

Goyle kicked Crabbe under their robes and they hurried over to where Draco and his gang were sitting, bumping into each other as they fought over the same seat. When they were seated, they just looked at each other and then blankly stared at Draco.

"You two seem dumber than usual. What's going on with you?" Draco scrutinized.

"Uhhhh. Stomach ache. Ate too much." Stammered Crabbe.

"Whatever." Draco rolled his eyes and then went back to ignoring the pair. "So Ellie, how's flying class going?"

"I mean, I'm fine at it. After practicing with you over break, I'm a lot better, and much less afraid of leaving the ground." She chuckled, "But I certainly don't see myself playing quidditch anytime soon."

Pansy snorted, annoyed. Every time Elliana or Draco mentioned how they had spent the holiday break together, she made some remark or would rag on Ellie a little extra after. She really hated that Elliana had come in and stolen her best friend from her. Elliana glanced at Pansy, rolling her eyes and laughing to herself about her obvious jealousy. Ever since Pansy had brought up her blood status on the train, the two had been at each other any time they got the chance. The other Slytherins had enough respect for their head of house to not mention Elliana's blood status.

"Sooo... About the heir of Slytherin.." Crabbe interjected.

"We've been over this a hundred times already Crabbe. Honestly, I don't know why you keep bringing it up." Draco leaned back in his chair, draping his legs over the arm. "I don't know who it is, and no, my father hasn't told me anything."

"Well besides that part about the last time, but that was basically useless..." Elliana added.

"What do you mean the last time?" Asked Goyle.

"Honestly, do you two ever listen? Or are your brains too small to retain information beyond the timing of your next meal?" Draco looked annoyed. "The last time the chamber was open, fifty years ago. We talked about this weeks ago. Honestly.."

"But who did it last time?" Crabbe asked, his eyes wide, and honestly, more alert than usual.

"We don't know!" Elliana said, exasperated. "You two really are daft."

Pansy looked at Crabbe, and noticed his hair changing slightly reddish. "What's wrong with your hair?" She squinted at him, moving closer.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, mumbled something vaguely about feeling sick and ran out of the common room, faster than any of them had ever seen the pair move before.

"What's up their butts today?" Ellie laughed, but had a weird feeling about the encounter. "Ouch!" She felt a sharp pain in her temple and brought her hand up to hold it.

"What's wrong?" Draco sat up from his lounging position, looking concerned.

"No idea. Suddenly I'm feeling weird as well. Feels like I've got a headache coming on. Maybe there WAS something wrong with lunch."

"Stupid house elves." Draco muttered.


End file.
